


The boy who saved me

by readwritebeawesome



Category: Homestuck
Genre: These shippings are adorable, caliborn is an asshole, some sad moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-02 10:30:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 40,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4056715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readwritebeawesome/pseuds/readwritebeawesome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been six years since Karkat's parents died-murdered in cold blood. He would have lost his life that night, but he was saved by a mysterious boy with strange powers. He never forgot about him. Now, a new kid moved into town and has become Karkat's friend. Something seems...weird about him, but Karkat isn't sure what.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“ _Aaaah!” Karkat screamed. The man with the knife dropped his mother’s body next to his father’s. The man turned and grinned at him._

“ _There you are.” he said, walking over. Karkat turned and ran. He could hear the man following, laughing like a madman. Karkat ran to a nearby window and opened it. The man ran into the room and laughed. “We’re on the second floor! You’ll just hurt yourself!” He lunged and Karkat jumped out the window._

_Someone caught him, a boy maybe his age, but taller than him. He backed away from the house a few feet. The man looked out the window and grinned. He pulled a gun out of his pocket and Karkat’s eyes went wide._

“ _Say goodnight!” the man yelled. But before he could shoot red and blue light shot from the eyes of the boy holding Karkat. The man screamed as the light enveloped him and the entire house. Karkat stared in amazement. When the lights died down the whole house was destroyed. The boy set Karkat down and patted his head._

“ _You’ll be fine now.” he said. He pulled a phone out of his pocket and handed it to Karkat. “Here, phone for help.” Karkat took the phone and dialled 911._

“ _Hello. What is the state of your emergency?” a woman asked._

“ _I-” Karkat started to cry. The boy wiped his tears away and tapped the phone. “My-a man came into the house and killed my parents. My house is destroyed. I need help.”_

“ _What is your address?” Karkat frowned. He didn’t know. They lived in a house in the forest. Karkat looked at the boy, hoping he could say something. He handed Karkat a piece of paper. Karkat looked at it and saw that it said what he assumed was his address._

“ _Two miles into the forest near Beforus Lake. Uh, northwest.” Karkat said._

“ _Alright. Help will be sent right away.” The lady hung up. The boy took the phone from Karkat and put it in his pants pocket. Karkat could already hear the sounds of sirens._

“ _Good luck.” The boy said. He stood up and walked away. Karkat wanted to follow him, but he was so tired he couldn’t move. He watched the boy disappear through the trees. The sirens began to get closer and Karkat covered his ears._

 

Six years later Karkat was walking to his first day at Alternia High. It was a cool autumn day, with a sky covered by clouds and a few leaves already turning orange and falling from trees. Karkat hated it. He was more sensitive to the cold than other kids, so he had to wear a jacket inside. He supposedly got it from his dad. Karkat didn’t remember much about him or his mom. After they died he seemed to forget some things about them. But he still remembered the boy who had saved him. People hadn’t believed him, and Karkat had come close to thinking it had been a dream. But it had been too real, too lifelike.

Karkat shook those thoughts out of his head as he approached the school. It was really big and had a lot of students. Karkat didn’t like being in big groups, but it seemed like that year he wouldn’t be able to avoid it.

“Karbro!” Oh, it was Gamzee. He was waving to him by the entrance. Karkat jogged up to him, avoiding making contact with as many people as possible. “Great to see you again!” Gamzee said when Karkat caught up to him.

“Yeah.” Karkat said. He preferred to avoid talking. He’d been like this since six years ago.

“C’mon! Maybe we’re in the same homeroom!” Gamzee put an arm around his shoulders and led him inside. They walked to the bulletin and checked their names. “Sweet! Same class! Let’s go!” Gamzee dragged him upstairs to their classroom, even though the bell hadn’t rung yet. No one else was there yet so they grabbed some seats in the back.

Karkat pulled out his phone and listened to some music. Gamzee had bought him the phone for his fourteenth birthday. Karkat didn’t have many songs on it, but he’d been meaning to get some more. Gamzee said something to him but he didn’t really listen. Not like he could hear him with his earbuds in and music blaring. Gamzee tapped his shoulder and Karkat pulled his earbuds out.

“What?!” he snapped.

“The bell rang. Teacher’ll be here in a sec.” Karkat sighed and put his phone away. A few seconds later the teacher walked in. Other students began to enter the classroom and sat down in seats. When everyone was there the teacher called their attention.

“Good morning, welcome back to school, blah, blah, blah! I’m you’re homeroom teacher, Mr. Slick. And no, that’s not a joke. So don’t start making fun of it or I’ll get stabby-wait, I’m not allowed. Fine, I’ll give you detention. So don’t be jerks and you’ll be fine.” He then handed them all their timetables. Karkat looked at his and sighed. All classes were boring, so he didn’t really care what he got.

“Karbro, what classes do you have?” Gamzee asked. Karkat handed him his paper and he grinned. “Great! We’ve got all our classes together! This is great, Karbro!”

“Oh, wait a second.” Mr. Slick said, interrupting Gamzee. “I’m supposed to introduce some new student. Are they here?” A boy at the back raised his hand. “Well, then stand up so we can all see your ugly ass.”

Karkat’s fist thought was that Mr. Slick was wrong, the kid wasn’t ugly. He was tall and thin and had pale brown hair. He was wearing 3D glasses and a yellow shirt and black jeans. He was tall enough that he didn’t fit very well in the chairs. He could even be almost as tall as Gamzee, who was just freakishly tall. Karkat thought he recognized him.

“Okay, this ugly’s Sollux Captor. I don’t care how you treat him, just don’t stab him. That’s my thing. Okay, now sit your ass back down.” Sollux sat back down and Karkat heard a few kids whispering. He didn’t listen to what they were saying though. He was too busy trying to figure out why Sollux looked so familiar. Sollux noticed him and Karkat could have sworn he looked shocked when he saw him. What the heck?

“Hey Karbro.” Gamzee said, distracting him.

“What?!”

“Have you spoken to Tavbro recently?”

“No, why?”

“I listened to attendance, and he’s supposed to be in this class. But that motherfucker is nowhere to be found.”

“Then just text him.”

“I just did, and he’s not answering.”

“He probably just slept in. Don’t worry so much.” Karkat glanced back at Sollux but he was busy writing in a notebook. Karkat pulled out his phone since the teacher obviously didn’t care about the students and listened to some music. Gamzee mumbled something but Karkat didn’t listen.

When the bell rang Karkat and Gamzee grabbed their books and walked to class. They had Science class first. When they got to the classroom they sat down at a table. Once everyone was sitting down the teacher got up and spoke.

“Okay, I’m Mr. Ampora. Noww, I need all of you to stand against the wwall so I can put you all in groups. So get to it!” Karkat and Gamzee stood next to each other. Mr. Ampora assigned everyone to different tables so that there were groups of four. “Gamzee, Karkat, Sollux and Tavvros are at table four.” He pointed at a table that was in the front row. Great. Karkat sighed and sat down. Gamzee told the teacher that Tavros was absent. Sollux sat down across from Karkat. Karkat got the feeling he was staring at him, but he made himself not look up. Okay, seriously. Where’d he seen him before? It was like there was something blocking him from remembering. “Okay, evveryone read the first section of chapter one in these books, then do wwhatevver you wwant, as long as you’re quiet.” Gamzee grabbed them all textbooks, including one for Tavros.

“So, you’re new here, Solbro?” Gamzee said.

“Yeah, I jutht moved here yethterday.” Sollux said. Wow, that was some lisp.

“Cool. What’cha think of this town?” Sollux shrugged.

“It’th nithe. I haven’t really theen much of it yet.”

“Stop talking and read you’re stupid textbooks!” Mr. Ampora snapped. Karkat sighed and opened his textbook. He sort of read the section, but it was hard to concentrate. He felt like something was nagging him in the corner of his mind, but he couldn’t figure out what. Eventually he just shut his textbook and listened to music. He could read it when he got home.

The rest of the day was uneventful enough. Karkat found out that Sollux and Tavros were also in all his classes. During lunch Gamzee tried to call Tavros, but got no answer.

“He’s probably sick then.” Karkat said.

“He was fine yesterday.” Gamzee said, looking at his phone.

“Go thee him after thchool.” Sollux suggested. Gamzee nodded and put his phone away. So, when school ended for the day Gamzee headed in the opposite direction from Karkat to Tavros’s house.

“I’ll say hi to Tavbro for you!” he said. Karkat nodded and waved back. He sighed and started walking home. Then he realized Sollux was walking next to him.

“Why are you following me?!” Karkat snapped.

“I’m not. My houthe ith in thith direction.” Sollux said. Karkat just nodded and ignored him. If he looked at him he started to wonder where he’d seen him before, and it was beginning go make his head hurt.

Karkat was quiet while walking. He really wasn’t good at starting conversations. And Sollux didn’t try talking to him anyway, so he probably wanted him to be quiet. When Karkat’s house came into view he sighed. It wasn’t that he disliked his home, he just felt out of place in it sometimes. Sollux’s phone went off suddenly. He answered it with a polite “Hello?”

“Aw, theriouthly?” he groaned. “Fine, hang on.” He glanced at Karkat. “Can I thtay at you’re plathe for a bit?”

“Uh, sure?” Karkat said. Sollux nodded.

“Okay, I’ll be at a friend’th houthe. Yeah, big woop dad, but nobody careth. Okay, bye.” He put his phone back in his pocket and sighed.

“Uh, why do you have to stay over?” Karkat asked.

“My dad’th got thome friendth over, and that meanth it’ll be loud.” Sollux said. When they got to Karkat’s house Kanaya was there to greet them.

“Welcome home, Karkat.” She looked at Sollux like she was inspecting him. “And who’s you’re new friend?”

“I’m Thollux Captor.” he said. Kanaya smiled and shook his hand.

“I’m Kanaya, Karkat’s cousin.”

“He’s staying over for a bit.” Karkat said.

“Jutht for a few hourth.” Sollux said. Kanaya nodded.

“Okay, that’s fine. Dad’s out late tonight, so you should be able to avoid his lectures.” Sollux looked confused. Karkat just nodded.

“Great. Come on.” He led Sollux inside and took his shoes off. He dropped his bag in his room and sat down on his bed. “You can drop you’re bag next to mine.” Sollux put his down more gently and sat down on the floor.

“Tho, do you have any video gameth?” he asked. Karkat nodded and pulled some out. “Uh…oh, you’ve got a good one.” Sollux picked up a shooting game. “Let’th play thith.”

“Okay, sure.” Karkat put the game in and turned on the TV. “Bet I’ll beat you.” Sollux grinned at him.

“You’re on!”


	2. Chapter 2

“Fuck!” Karkat yelled. The words GAME OVER flashed on the screen. Sollux laughed as Karkat threw his controller across the room. 

“It’th jutht a game, KK.” Sollux said.

“First of all, fuck you. Second of all, what the hell did you just call me?!”

“KK. What’th wrong with a nickname?”

“It’s fucking annoying! That’s what!” Sollux grinned.

“If it annoyth you tho much, I’ll jutht keep calling you that.” Karkat groaned and collapsed on his bed. Sollux sat next to him, still grinning. “Don’t be thuch a thpath KK.”

“Fuck you!” Karkat snapped. Sollux just laughed.

“Karkat! Come have supper!” Karkat sighed and got up.

“Coming Porrim!” Karkat called back. Sollux followed him out of his room and into the dining room. Karkat’s aunt Porrim was putting supper on the table. Karkat had been living with his aunt and uncle and cousin since his parents died.

“Hi Sollux.” Porrim said. “Kanaya mentioned you. Do you like pasta?” Sollux nodded and sat at the table. Porrim put their food in front of them and Karkat started eating. The food was tasty as always. 

“So, you’re new in town?” Kanaya asked. Sollux nodded and swallowed some pasta.

“Yeah, we jutht moved in.”

“I hope you have a map of the city.” Porrim said. “This place is big, and new people always get lost.”

“I have a GPS on my phone.” Sollux said. Porrim nodded.

“That’s good. How was school today Karkat?”

“Ordinary.” Karkat said.

“Everyone the same as usual?”

“Gamzee was. Tavros was absent.” Kanaya looked worried. “He probably just has a cold.”

Karkat zoned out on the conversations after that. When he finished his supper he put the plate in the dishwasher and sat down on the couch. Sollux finished eating and sat next to him. Karkat flipped through channels for about thirty minutes before admitting there was nothing good on. 

“Maybe dad’th friendth are gone.” Sollux said, pulling out his phone. “Hey dad-oh, shit. Bye.”

“Staying longer?” Kanaya asked.

“Yeah, lookth like my dad’th friendth are thtaying over for the night.”

“Okay, you can share Karkat’s room.” Kanaya said.

“What?!” Karkat exclaimed.

“You’ve got plenty of extra blankets to make a second bed, so stop complaining.” Kanaya glared at him before going back to sewing a shirt.

“If you’re just going to sit there, why don’t you work on some homework?” Porrim said. Karkat groaned, but got up and went to his room. He took his science book out of his bag and sat down on his bed. Sollux sat down on the floor. Of course, he’d already read the science book, so he didn’t have to do anything. Karkat scowled at him and looked at the textbook. Shit, why was science even necessary to learn?!

An hour later, Kankri came home.

“Karkat, did you enjoy you’re day? I hope nothing at school proved to be triggering to you. Please let me know if something did. I will call the school and let them know. So-” Kankri stopped when he saw Sollux. “Oh, you made a new friend. Congratulations. I’m Kankri, Karkat’s uncle.” Sollux smiled and shook his hand.

“I’m Thollux.”

“Pleased to meet you Sollux. I hope you and Karkat have been getting along. Please tell me if his behaviour triggers you even a little, and I will talk with him. He hasn’t been very sociable during the time he’s lived with us and I have been trying to get him to break out of the shell he’s created around himself, but it didn’t seem to be working. So I’m glad he’s made a new friend. It seems like he is getting rid of that shell now, or at least I hope he is. Oh, are you staying overnight, Sollux? I suppose it’s fine to let you stay in Karkat’s room. Though I honestly have no idea if he’s straight or gay, so I suppose this could be a potential risk of triggers. Karkat, should I have a parental talk with you?”

“NO!” Karkat yelled. Kankri looked offended.

“I am merely doing what a parent is supposed to do, Karkat. And while I am not you’re actual father, I have taken that role for six years now and I expect you to treat me according to how one treats their father. So I expect your behaviour to improve soon, or I might confiscate privileges. Please keep that in mind from now on.” Kankri nodded and walked out of the room. Karkat sighed and lay back on his bed.

“He’s so annoying.” he grumbled.

“How doeth he talk that much?” Sollux asked. Karkat shrugged.

“No idea. He’s always been like that.”

“Karkat, are you done you’re homework?” Porrim asked, popping in. Karkat groaned and picked the science textbook back up. He hadn’t actually been reading it. Porrim nodded and left the room. Karkat debated not reading, but if he got bad grades Kankri would be on his case about it.

When Karkat finished he was already tired. So he brushed his teeth and put some blankets next to his bed. He also grabbed an extra pillow from the hallway closet.

“You can have the mattress.” Karkat said, pointing at his bed, which really was just a mattress on the floor with blankets and a pillow. Sollux nodded and lay down.

“Aren’t you going to change into pyjamath?” he asked.

“Nah, I don’t bother.” Karkat turned the light out and pulled the blankets over his head. He heard Sollux move around on his bed. He sighed and closed his eyes. He liked nighttime, it was the one time when he could relax and forget about the world around him.

 

“Karkat! Get ready for school!” Kanaya said, banging on the door. Karkat sighed and opened his eyes. Great, another day. Karkat tried to get up, then realized something was on top of him. Oh, fuck! How the hell had Sollux—okay, he was obviously an active sleeper! He’d rolled right off the fucking mattress! Karkat grumbled and sat up. Oh, great. They’re legs were tangled together. Karkat punched Sollux in the stomach, causing him to wake up.

“Hey, will you get the fuck off me?!” Karkat snapped. Sollux untangled their legs and sat up.

“Thorry.” he said. Karkat just rolled his eyes and went for breakfast. He always had cereal, though Kanaya had been nagging him to have something different. Sollux had cereal as well and they ate silently. 

On the walk to school Karkat listened to music and tried to ignore Sollux. It wasn’t that he was angry with him, he just wasn’t a really sociable person. When they got to school Karkat couldn’t see Gamzee or Tavros anywhere, so they just walked to homeroom. By the time homeroom had started, they still hadn’t shown up. Since Mr. Slick didn’t care about phones, Karkat decided to phone them.

“Hello?” Gamzee said. Karkat noticed he sounded like he’d been up all night.

“Gamzee, where are you?!”

“Uh, I’m with Tavbro. Sorry we’re not at school.”

“Did you both get sick? Because that’s stupid!”

“Nah, we’re both healthy.”

“Then why the fuck aren’t you at school?!”

“Oh, uh yeah. Tavbro got hit by a car yesterday.”

“Wait, what?!”

“He’s alive, rest assured best friend. He’s just, uh, paralyzed from the waist down.”

“Oh, fuck.”

“I’m staying with him at the hospital, to keep him company. He’ll be outta here by tomorrow morning, so we’ll be at school then.”

“Okay. I guess I have to bring you you’re homework now, huh?!”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry about that, Karbro.”

“Whatever. I’ll bring it after school.”

“Thanks bro. I gotta go.”

“Bye.” Karkat hung up and put his phone away. The bell rang and he walked off to class with Sollux. By lunchtime they already had some English homework. Karkat texted Gamzee while they ate.

CG: GAMZEE, WE HAVE HOMEWORK. SO I WILL BE THERE AFTER SCHOOL.

TC: CoOl. ThAnKs BrO. :O)

During Spanish class the principal came in with some forms to hand out.

“There’s a skiing field trip starting on the 9th of December. We’ll get back on the Sunday, so there will be school the next week. Make sure you hand these in this month.” The forms were handed out and the principal left. Karkat skimmed over the permission slip. He had never skied before, but Kankri would insist he go for “socializing” anyway.

“Cool.” Sollux said. “Are you going, KK?”

“Yeah, probably.” Sollux nodded and kept reading the paper. Karkat just put it in his bag and looked around the classroom. The big group of girls in the corner were whispering to each other, and they seemed to occasionally glance at Sollux. Huh, he’d only been there two days and he’d already gotten popular. Good for him. Karkat didn’t really care. He mostly found girls annoying.

When the end-of-day bell rang Karkat grabbed his stuff and walked outside. He knew the way to the hospital well enough. He’d been there before when he’d broken a few bones as a kid.

“You coming?” Karkat asked Sollux.

“Thure. I can meet your friend.” So the two of them walked to the hospital together.


	3. Chapter 3

“Karbro! Solbro!” Gamzee said. “You motherfuckers came!”

“Hi Gamzee.” Karkat said. “Hi Tavros.”

“Uh, hi. Um, who’s he?” Tavros asked, pointing at Sollux.

“I’m Thollux.” Sollux held out his hand. Tavros shook it and smiled shyly.

“He’s new in town.” Gamzee said. “Karbro, did you bring our homework?”

“Yeah, here.” Karkat handed them the English work along with two copies of the permission slips.

“Oh, sweet! Field trip!” Gamzee cheered.

“Oh…” Tavros mumbled. Gamzee patted his head.

“Hey, you can still come Tavbro.”

“But I can’t ski with my legs…”

“Who cares? Come on, you’ll be lonely without us.” Gamzee grinned, putting his arm around Tavros’s shoulders. Tavros blushed and mumbled something.

“Hey, why don’t we work on the homework?” Sollux suggested. So Karkat and he sat down and they worked on the homework. It wasn’t too difficult and they finished quickly enough. Then Karkat’s phone rang.

“Karkat, where are you?” Kanaya asked.

“Oh, I’m visiting Tavros.” Karkat said.

“Oh, okay. I was just wondering. Get home in time for dinner. We’re having crab cakes; you’re favourite.”

“Oh, great. Okay, bye.”

The next hour was spent talking, Sollux telling stories and Gamzee telling a few jokes. Eventually Karkat had to leave to be home in time for supper. Sollux decided to come with him. So they walked home together.

“So, what was your old town like?” Karkat asked.

“Thmall.” Sollux said. “There wath a big park with a river where you could feed duckth and there wath even a beaver.”

“Huh. This place must be a big change.”

“Well, I lived here for a bit when I wath a kid, tho I remember a few thingth. But it ith pretty different.”

Then they got to Karkat’s house. Karkat waved bye to Sollux, then walked inside. Kankri was already home from work and supper was just being put on the table.

“Oh, good. I thought you weren’t going to arrive.” Porrim said. Karkat just grunted as he took his shoes off and dropped his bag in his room. He sat down at the table as Porrim served the crab cakes. Karkat grinned as he ate them. Her crab cakes were always good.

“Did you have a good day at school?” Porrim asked. Karkat nodded.

“Oh, right. Hang on.” Karkat got up and ran to his room. He grabbed the permission slip and came back and handed it to Porrim.

“Oh, skiing!” she exclaimed. “That sounds like fun!”

“Oh, that sounds perfect.” Kankri said. “This will be a good opportunity for you to socialize a bit more Karkat. I’m sure you’re friends are going, but even so you can make new friends during the trip. Or get a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend, which reminds me, I still don’t know which you prefer-”

“This conversation is giving me a fucking headache!” Karkat snapped, covering his ears. Kankri looked offended and said something, but Karkat was still covering his ears. Eventually Kankri stopped talking and Karkat finished eating. Then he went to his room and sat down on his bed. After staring at the ceiling for awhile he decided to go on the internet. There wasn’t much to do so he just downloaded some more songs on his phone. A few minutes later all the lights went out.

“What the hell?!” Karkat snapped. He got out of his room and looked around. There was light from the windows so it wasn’t that dark. Porrim, Kankri and Kanaya were sitting in the living room.

“How’d we lose power?” Kanaya asked. Then Karkat’s phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey, KK. Did anything happen with the lightth in you’re houthe?” Sollux asked.

“Yeah, they fucking shut off, why? Did yours too?”

“Really? Shit, that’th not what I’m trying to do. Hang on.”

“Wait, what?! Sollux, what the hell are you doing?!” Karkat walked outside and around the house to the generator-thing, whatever it was called. Sollux was bent over it, fiddling with some wires. “Sollux! What the fuck?!”

“Hang on KK. You can do thith really cool thing with the lightth. Go back inthide tho you can thee.”

“What the hell are you even doing here?!”

“I wath bored. Theriouthly, go inthide.”

“\---Fine.” Karkat walked back inside, though neither of them had hung up yet.

“Any idea what’s going on?” Kanaya asked.

“Yeah, I think we’re supposed to be getting a light show, but it’s malfunctioning.” All three of them looked confused, but before they could ask the lights suddenly changed colour. They started out red, then orange, then yellow and kept flashing through the colours of the rainbow.

“Did it work?” Sollux asked.

“Yeah, how the heck did you do that?”

“Wireth, free time and I did thith onthe at my houthe.”

“That wasn’t much of an explanation.”

“Karkat, what’s going on?” Porrim asked.

“Sollux made a light show.” Karkat replied. Kanaya laughed but Kankri looked annoyed.

“This is very triggering. One should at least ask permission before doing something like this. And even if he did ask I wouldn’t have allowed it, because it is so triggering. And another triggering fact is that this shouldn’t even be possible! The lights shouldn’t be able to change colour!”

“Well, they can.” Sollux said loudly through Karkat’s phone so Kankri would hear him. “I’ll thtop now if you like.”

“Yes, please do. And while you’re at it-” Then the lights returned to normal and Karkat walked back outside.

“So that’s what you do when you’re bored?” Karkat asked. Sollux grinned.

“Yep, pretty much. What do you do?”

“Uh, I watch TV.”

“That’th pretty thuckish KK.”

“Shut up, there’s nothing else to do in this city!”

“I thort of jutht proved you wrong.”

“First of all, I don’t know anything about the wires in that and I’d probably make it explode.”

“I actually know how to do that.”

“Don’t you fucking dare!”

“But theriouthly, what elthe ith there to do?”

“You’re bored again? Already?!” Sollux nodded. “Okay, fine! See if you can make some paint-bombs and we’ll set them off.”

“Theriouthly? Thure.”

They ran to Sollux’s house and went to the garage. Sollux grabbed some supplies and got to work, while Karkat kept a lookout for Sollux’s dad. It took about twenty minutes for Sollux to make all seven paint-bombs.

“Great, where should we set them off?” Karkat asked.

“Well, they’re harmleth, tho let’th go downtown.” Sollux put all the paint-bombs in a bag and they walked downtown, making sure they looked casual and innocent. Sollux snuck the paint-bombs into crevices and at benches. Then they walked off and waited for the timer to tick down.

“Now!” Sollux said. On cue there was yelling and paint being splattered everywhere. Karkat and Sollux laughed as they listened to people shouting and yelling. They walked over to the area and found almost everyone covered in yellow paint. They laughed at the sight of it. It was so ridiculous!

Eventually they went home when the chaos had died down. They went to Karkat’s house, still chuckling.

“Tho, that’th what you do when you’re bored?” Sollux asked. Karkat grinned.

“I hadn’t done that yet. I was waiting for an excuse.”

“Being bored ith plenty an excuthe.”

“You’re back.” Kanaya said, coming around the corner. “Hi Sollux. If you’re both going inside, sneak through a window. Dad’s going to give you both a lecture.”

“Okay. Thanks for the warning.” Karkat said. He led Sollux around a corner and to his bedroom window. He never locked it so he just opened it and climbed in. Sollux climbed in after him and he shut the window. Sollux sat down in front of Karkat’s computer.

“KK, you’re computer’th tho old.” he said.

“It’s not that old, and who cares anyway?!” 

“Do any coding?”

“Uh, a bit. But I’m kinda terrible at it.”

“Okay, I’ll help. I altho like coding when I’m bored.” Sollux brought up the code Karkat was working on. “Okay, you methed up on thith bit here, and you mithed a number here…” Sollux typed a bit while Karkat rolled his eyes. So he was just starting coding and was kinda terrible. So what?!

After awhile they got the code finished. Then they just sat around and told random stories. Though it was mostly Sollux who did. Karkat hadn’t been very sociable in awhile, so he didn’t have really any stories. Then his phone suddenly rang. But before he could pick it up it stopped and the bedroom door opened. Kankri was looking extremely offended.

“Alright, both of you. I’m going to have a talk with you.” Karkat groaned and lay on his bed.

“Not now, we want our ears to stay working.” he said.

“Karkat, my lectures are not that long, and-”

“You just called them lectures!”

“I did not, I said _conversations_. Anyway, about you’re behaviour today…”


	4. Chapter 4

The next day Karkat was sitting in homeroom, bored as ever. Kankri had given them both a long lecture and by the time he’d finished Sollux’s dad had phoned and said it was time for him to go home. Karkat had been disappointed. He’d wanted to hang out with Sollux longer. He was actually interesting to be around. Gamzee and Tavros were fine, but Sollux turned you’re lights into a lightshow and made paint-bombs for you to set off.

Sollux was sitting next to him, writing in a notebook. Gamzee and Tavros were in front of them, talking away. Tavros was of course in a wheelchair now. Karkat was zoning out, not really interested in listening to music and not having anything to do. The girls in the corner were whispering and looking at Sollux again. Karkat wondered if Sollux found them annoying. He didn’t even seem to notice them.

Then one of them walked over to them. Karkat recognized her as the leader of the group. She had long blond hair, a slightly revealing pink shirt and a white mini-skirt. She basically looked like a stereotypical popular.

“Hi Sollux.” she said. Sollux looked up at her.

“Hi.” he said.

“Hey, do you wanna hang out this Saturday?”

“Not interethted.” Sollux looked back at his notebook. The girl looked stunned.

“What? Are you gay?!” she exclaimed. Sollux sighed and looked at her.

“No actually. I’m bi.” 

“Th-then, why don’t you wanna hang out? If you like girls…”

“Yeah, I like girlth who’ve been friendth with me for yearth and I actually know. Not you. Pluth, I like girlth with darker hair, like brown.” The girl blinked a few times before marching back to her friend group, looking offended.

“That was interesting.” Karkat commented.

“Yeah, bro. You just dissed the highest of the sis’s.” Gamzee said. “Good job!” He patted Sollux’s shoulder and grinned.

“Thankth. They all theem tho annoying.”

“Yeah, they probably are.” Karkat muttered. Then the bell rang and they headed off to class. They had drama class second period that day. When drama class came Karkat, Gamzee, Tavros and Sollux sat in a corner of the chairs in front of the stage. Everyone else sat more in the middle in their large groups.

“Good afternoon class!” the drama teacher said. “I’m Mrs. Serket, but please call me Aranea. Okay, today we’re going to be splitting off into groups of five. I’ll name out the groups now, so listen for your name.” Karkat waited until she said their names. “Karkat Vantas, Sollux Captor, Gamzee Makara, Tavros Nitram and Calliope Scratch are the last group.” An albino girl wearing a green suit walked over to them. Her eyes were bright lime-green, so Karkat suspected she was wearing contacts. Her hair definitely didn’t look dyed.

“Hi Gamzee.” she said.

“Hi Calli! How’s you’re bro doing?”

“Better, I guess? He’s still away of course. And we don’t know when he’s getting out, but…yeah.”

“Uh, you know her?” Tavros asked. Gamzee nodded.

“I met Calli and her twin bro during the summer while on vacation.”

“Nice to meet you.” Calliope said.

“Okay class! All of you are going to think up a skit. It has to be appropriate for school, but swearing is okay if there isn’t too much. It has to be at least thirty minutes long. You have the whole school year to think it up!”

“What are we thuppothed to do a thkit about?” Sollux asked.

“Dunno. Let’s brain-storm.” Gamzee said. Before they could the door opened and a girl walked in.

“Sorry I’m late!” she said.

“Oh, wait. You aren’t on the attendance. Who are you?” Aranea asked.

“Roxy Lalonde! I just moved here!”

“Ah, I see. Okay, we already have full groups so…go with Karkat, Sollux, Gamzee, Tavros and Calliope. We’re working on making a skit.” She pointed at their group and Roxy sat down with them. She had pale blond hair that was almost white and pink eyes. She had black lipstick and eyeliner on. Her nails were painted pink and she kept grinning.

“Hi! Nice to meet you guys!” she said. Karkat just nodded. 

“Okay, what sort of skit should we do?” Calliope asked.

“Hmm, something with a fairy-tale theme.” Roxy said.

“That sounds cool!” Gamzee said.

“With six people? What parts would we all have?” Karkat asked.

“Calliope can be the princess!” Roxy declared. Calliope blushed and stared at the ground.

“I-I don’t know…” she mumbled. “I mean, shouldn’t someone pretty play that role?”

“What are you saying? You’re adorable!” Roxy said, hugging her. Calliope smiled and nodded, though Karkat thought she didn’t look convinced.

“…Okay.” she said.

“I can be the prince that comes to you’re rescue!” Roxy went on.

“Shouldn’t a guy play that part?” Sollux asked.

“Hey! Discrimination! I can if I want!” Sollux just shrugged.

“Go ahead.”

“Uh, then what about us?” Tavros asked.

“Shouldn’t we think up what the hell we’re doing first?” Karkat said.

“Why don’t we mix fairy-tales?” Calliope suggested.

“That’s a great idea!” Roxy said. “Our part could be, like, Snow White or something.”

“KK could be thleeping beauty.” Sollux said, smirking.

“What? No!” Karkat yelled. Roxy laughed and Gamzee chuckled.

“We should try and think up some modern versions of them.” Roxy said. “And a way to fit two guys instead of a guy and girl into it.”

“I’ll try and think of something.” Calliope said. “I’m pretty good at thinking up stories.”

“Great!” Roxy said. “And I guess groups could be Gamzee and Tavros and Karkat and Sollux.”

“Why those particular groups?” Karkat asked.

“Well, Gamzee and Tavros seem like a good couple.” Roxy said. Tavros blushed and Karkat could have sworn Gamzee smiled. “So then there’s you two. …Actually, you two do look cute together.”

“What the fuck?!” Karkat exclaimed. Roxy laughed and Sollux rolled his eyes.

“Ha, ha.” he said. “Tho, what about cothtumeth?”

“Kanaya can make them.” Karkat said. “She’s into fashion design and she’s great at sewing.”

“Cool! We’re doing good so far!” Roxy said. “I’ll have to think up my costume! And we need to think up you’re dress Calliope!”

“Oh, um…I guess I’d like something green?”

“That’s you’re favourite colour, huh?” Roxy asked, smiling. Calliope nodded, looking embarrassed. “That’s fine, it suits you!” They talked a bit more until the bell rang for lunchtime. Roxy decided to join them at their table and she brought Calliope with her. 

“So, where’d you move from Roxy?” Calliope asked.

“Uh, up north.” Roxy said. “It snowed a whole lot there.”

“This climate must be a big change, huh?” Gamzee said, grinning. Roxy nodded.

“Yeah, it is. It’s really warm here. But it’s nice.”

After lunch they found out drama was the only class they had with Roxy and Calliope. They also found out they got homework in their last two classes. Karkat was annoyed by all the homework. It was only the beginning of the year! Why were they getting so much homework?!

“Why don’t we all work at Tavbro’s?” Gamzee suggested.

“Sure, whatever.” Karkat said. Sollux agreed and Tavros was fine with it, so after school they all went to Tavros’s. Karkat texted Kanaya to tell her where he was.

At Tavros’s house they were greeted by his dad.

“Hi. Nice to see you guys again.” he asked. Tavros just nodded. Gamzee pushed him up the ramp and into the house. Karkat and Sollux followed behind them. They all sat down in Tavros’s room to do the homework. After about half an hour Karkat’s phone went off.

“Hello?” he said.

“Karkat, you should come home.” Kanaya said.

“Why?”

“Uh, dad wants to talk to you about something.”

“Isn’t that a good idea not to go home?”

“Well, he’ll just come over to you if you don’t come home now. Might as well spare you’re friends his lecture.”

“Yeah, okay. Fine.”

“Okay, good. As a warning, he’s pretty mad.”

“Gotcha.” Karkat hung up and sighed. “I gotta go.” he said.

“Already?” Gamzee asked.

“Yeah, I’m sparing you all a lecture from Kankri.” Tavros just nodded quickly.

“What’d you do now Karbro?” Gamzee asked. Karkat shrugged.

“No idea.” He grabbed his books and said bye. Walking home, he kept wondering what Kankri was mad about.


	5. Chapter 5

“Karkat Vantas!” Kankri yelled.

“What did I do know?!” Karkat snapped. Kankri glared at him.

“Well, I got some images of you and Sollux from yesterday.”

“Huh?” Kankri held up some photos. They were of Karkat and Sollux going around setting up the paint-bombs. Oh yeah, he hadn’t known about that. Yet.

“Karkat, I want to tell you how triggering it is for you to do that. And if Sollux simply influenced you to do that, then that’s not an excuse because you can control your own behaviour. However, if you influenced Sollux then I am extremely disappointed in you, more so than I am now in fact. If it is neither and this is simply an account of both your personalities, then you are still in trouble. I will not tolerate you misbehaving, and as such I am going to have to punish you in some manner. Please do not be triggered by this as I am only doing what a parent does for their child. So, for your punishment I have confiscated you’re computer-”

“What?!”

“-and I am also confiscating you’re TV privileges. Now, if you have any homework, you can work on it in you’re room. If you don’t, go to you’re room anyway. You’re grounded for the rest of today, and possibly tomorrow.”

“That’s not fair!” Karkat protested.

“Karkat! NOW!” Kankri yelled. Karkat glared at him and stormed off to his room. He slammed the door shut and threw his bag at the wall. He spent ten minutes throwing his bag around until he calmed down enough to do his homework. He’d only gotten halfway done the first homework, and he still had the other one to do. So he sat down on his bed and worked on them until Porrim called him for supper.

Supper was quesadillas. Karkat didn’t like them that much, but he didn’t complain. He was in enough trouble as it was. When he finished he went back to his room and finished his homework. It took awhile since he was in a bad mood while he did it, but he got it finished. After lying on his bed for awhile his phone rang.

“Hi KK.” Sollux said.

“Hi.” Karkat grumbled.

“Did you get lectured too?”

“Yeah, for the paint-bombs?”

“Yeah, my dad got pictureth.”

“Yeah, Kankri got some too. Who took the pictures?”

“Dunno, probably thomeone one of uth knowth.”

“Whatever. Did you get grounded?”

“Yep, you too?”

“Yeah, and I got my computer taken away and I can’t watch TV.”

“That thuckth.”

“Yeah.”

“…….Tho, why _don’t_ you be thleeping beauty?”

“Oh, fuck you!”

“I didn’t know you were gay.”

“Oh, ha-ha. Hilarious Sollux.” Sollux laughed.

“You didn’t deny it KK.”

“I don’t even know! So cut it out!”

“Oh, theriouthly?”

“Yeah, so what?!”

“Chill KK. It jutht thurprithed me.”

“Whatever. And just so you know, NO! I will not be sleeping beauty!”

“Honethly, I bet you’d look good in a dreth.”

“Fuck you!”

“Hey, I’m theriouth. You totally would.”

“Sollux, don’t you dare fucking picture that!”

“Heh-heh. Too late KK.”

“God dammit Sollux.”

“Heh. Anyway, how about you thneak out tonight?”

“Huh?”

“I found thomething cool the firtht night we moved in here. Wanna thee it?”

“What is it?”

“A thurprithe. It’th in the woodth near my houthe.”

“Okay, sure. Why not?”

“Great. Meet me at my houthe at midnight.”

 

So, some hours later Karkat was walking down the street to Sollux’s. It was cold out so he’d grabbed a hoodie. He wondered what Sollux had found. When he got to Sollux’s house he snuck over to the garage. Sollux was there waiting for him.

“Hi. Come on.” Sollux said. He led Karkat into the forest. He turned on a flashlight and shone around the ground.

“How deep are we going into here?” Karkat asked.

“Not too far.” Sollux said. They kept walking for awhile until Sollux stopped. “Down there.” He pointed into what looked like a dried-up lake. It had been taken over by plants and fallen leaves. Sollux shone the flashlight on the wreck of a car.

“Okay, it’s a car.” Karkat said. Sollux grinned at him and climbed down into the lake. Karkat followed him and they walked up to the car.

“Check it out.” Sollux said. He pointed the flashlight inside the car. Karkat jumped and almost yelled but Sollux covered his mouth. There was a skeleton! A real skeleton was sitting in the driver’s seat! Karkat took some deep breaths to calm down. His heart was still pounding and he stared at the skeleton. Sollux took his hand off his mouth.

“Oh shit.” Karkat muttered.

“Yeah.” Sollux moved the flashlight’s beam, revealing other skeletons in the car. There were two adults in the front and two small kids in the back.

“That’s just creepy.” Karkat said. Sollux grinned at him.

“Wanna go inthide?”

“What?! No!” Karkat backed away from the car quickly.

“I wath jutht kidding KK. Even I wouldn’t do that.”

“Whatever. Why don’t we go back?”

“What’th wrong? Are you thcared of ghothtth?” Karkat glared at Sollux, who just grinned.

“No, I’m not! I just don’t want to fall asleep during class tomorrow.” Sollux didn’t look like he believed him, but he walked away from the car.

“Okay, thure.” They walked back to Sollux’s place. Sollux put the flashlight in the garage. “Thee ya.”

“Yeah.” Karkat walked home quickly. He opened his bedroom window and climbed in. He took his hoodie off and snuck his shoes back to the door. Then he lay down in bed and closed his eyes. He tried not to think of the skeletons and get some sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

The next day Karkat found out that he was grounded for the rest of the week and they’d run out of his favourite cereal. So he was stuck having stale Cheerios that had been in the back of the cupboard for awhile now.

“Here Karkat. I signed that permission slip.” Porrim said, handing it to Karkat. Karkat nodded and stuffed it in his pant’s pocket.

On the walk to school he ran into Sollux. They didn’t really talk at all, just walked and stayed silent. When they got to school Tavros and Gamzee were waiting for them at the entrance. They waved to them as they approached.

“Solbro, Karbro! You got the permission slips signed yet?” Gamzee asked. Karkat nodded and pulled his out. Sollux had his as well, and so did Gamzee and Tavros. “Great! Let’s go hand them into the office now!” So they went to the office and dropped them off in the box. Then they went to homeroom and chatted a bit before going to class.

In science class Mr. Ampora gave them all a project and some homework. Karkat was beginning to hate science class. While they worked on the project he went on a rant about how magic isn’t real and there is only SCIENCE!

“I disagree with that!” Karkat turned and realized Calliope was in their science class. She was standing up and looked like she’d just realized what she’d done.

“Excuse me?!” Mr. Ampora exclaimed.

“Uh…I-”

“I motherfucking agree with her!” Gamzee said, standing up. Calliope looked relieved and Mr. Ampora looked pissed as hell.

“Wwhat is wwrong wwith you twwo?! Magic is fake as shit!” Wow, a teacher actually swore. Cool.

“No it’s not!” Calliope insisted.

“That’s right. Miracles are magic my bro. And miracles exist!” Gamzee said.

“U-um, maybe you shouldn’t make him mad…” Tavros whispered. Gamzee just smiled at him and shook his head.

“You believe in magic too, right Tavbro?” Tavros nodded, though he glanced at Mr. Ampora nervously.

“Well…yeah.”

“You’re all idiots! There’s no such thing as magic!” Mr. Ampora was screeching at the top of his lungs.

“Yeth there ith.” Sollux said, raising his hand. Mr. Ampora’s face was turning purple. “Ha-ha. Look at hith fathe.” Karkat just sighed. What were they all doing? This was going to get them all in detention.

“Hey, do you guys have any glue sticks?” Roxy asked, walking into their classroom.

“This is the fucking science room! Wwhy the hell wwould wwe?!” Mr. Ampora screamed. Roxy looked surprised.

“You don’t have to shout. Jeez. What’s goin’ on here, anyway?”

“We’re trying to convince this motherfucker that magic and miracles are real.” Gamzee said. Roxy grinned.

“Cool! They so are!”

“NO THEY’RE NOT!”

“YEAH!”

“NO!”

“YEAH!”

“NO!”

“YEAH!”

“NO-”

“Excuse me, but will you all please BE QUIET?!” The class went silent and turned to see the principal standing there. She sighed and glared at everyone, including Mr. Ampora, who was trying to regain his composure.

“Ms. Peixes, I can explain-”

“Nope! You four students and you two all get detention and _you_ , Mr. Ampora, come by my office after school.” She pointed first at Karkat, Tavros, Gamzee and Sollux, then at Calliope and Roxy.

“Meenah-”

“Shut up!” she snapped, cutting Mr. Ampora off. “Now be quiet!” She left, slamming the door shut.

“I’m not even in this class.” Roxy said. “I just need glue-sticks for the art class.”

“This. Is. A. Science. Class.” Mr. Ampora said slowly. “Get. Out!” Roxy shrugged and walked out of the room. “Evveryone else, finish your stupid projects!”

Science class was pretty boring after that. They all did their projects quietly and after that they just went on their phones. They were pretty sure they’d get into more trouble if they tried to talk. During lunch Calliope apologized to them.

“It’s not your fault.” Roxy said. “That jerk was just asking for it.”

“But now we all have detention…” Calliope said.

“Cool it Calli. It’s totally worth it.” Gamzee said, patting her head. Calliope smiled and nodded.

“Okay. Thanks.”

“Sure thing.” Karkat rolled his eyes, then noticed the brief change in Tavros’s and Roxy’s expressions. What the heck? It didn’t even last a second though, so he probably imagined it.

“At leatht we’ll have thomething to do after thcool.” Sollux pointed out.

“Yeah, I’m still grounded.” Karkat grumbled.

“What did you do this time Karbro?” Gamzee asked.

“We thet off paint-bombth downtown a couple dayth ago.” Sollux said. Roxy burst out laughing.

“That was you guys?! I still haven’t been able to wash it out of my clothes!”

“Thorry ‘bout that.” Sollux said. But he grinned like he wasn’t. Gamzee laughed too.

 

After school they all sat in detention in their science classroom. Mr. Slick was supervising them because Mr. Ampora was getting grilled by Ms. Peixes or something. Mr. Slick didn’t seem to care much about what they did, but he said if they tried to talk he would stab them. So instead they texted.

CG: THIS IS STUPID. NOW WHEN I GET HOME I’LL HAVE TO LISTEN TO ANOTHER RANT FROM KANKRI! AND I DON’T EVEN DESERVE THIS FUCKING DETENTION!

TA: he 2ure doe2 talk a lot.

CG: WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THOSE 2’S?!

TA: what’2 wrong wiith them?

CG: AND DOUBLE I’S? SERIOUSLY?!

TG: karkat, thathts’ rude.

TG: *that’s.

UU: Does he really talk that mUch?

CG: YES! HOLY FUCK HE DOES!

TC: YeAh, He DoEs HaVe OnE mIrAcUlOuS mOuTh.

CG: WHAT THE FUCK?! GAMZEE, THAT JUST SOUNDS MESSED UP.

TC: KaRbRo, I’m PrEtTy SuRe YoU’rE tHe OnLy OnE wHo ThInKs ThAt.

TA: yeah kk.

CG: FUCK YOU!

TA: gay.

CG: OH JESUS!  SOLLUX, YOU CUT THAT OUT!

AT: uHH, CAN YOU GUYS PLEASE STOP FIGHTING?

TG: yeha guys.

TG: *yeah.

TG: stop fihgting!

TG: *figitnig

TG: fcuk!

CG: HOW THE HELL DO YOU MANAGE TO MAKE SUCH STUPID TYPOS?!

TG: don’t be ride karkat.

TG: *rude.

UU: Yeah, everyone stop getting into argUments. Smile! ^u^

CG: I AM NOT FUCKING SMILING LIKE THAT!

UU: TnT

TG: karkiat!

TC: KARBRO!

TG: *Karkat.

TC: KaRbRo, YoU mOtHeRfUcKiNg ApOlOgIzE.

TG: yeah!

CG: FINE. I’M SORRY.

UU: Apology accepted. ^u^+

CG: WHAT THE HELL IS THE PLUS SIGN FOR?!

UU: That’s my hand, waving. I’m waving to yoU positively to show I accept the apology.

CG: OH. WHAT THE HELL?

TG: i thing it’s cute.

TG: *think.

UU: ^u^+

TG: *U*+

CG: OKAY, THAT ONE WAS JUST STUPID.

TG: XP

“Okay, time for you idiots to get home!” Mr. Slick snapped. They put their phones away and left the room. They passed by the office and saw the principal yelling at Mr. Ampora. They smirked and kept walking.

“Therveth him right.” Sollux said.


	7. Chapter 7

About two months later it was December 8 th , the day before the school field trip. Karkat had gone to Sollux’s to escape Kankri’s rants about what he should and shouldn’t pack and what he should and shouldn’t do. While they were there Gamzee phoned them and invited them to Calliope’s place. He gave them directions and they all met up there.

Calliope’s house was a normal size. But the property was expansive. There was a large field and a forest that her family owned. There was even a pond that was frozen, but apparently not safe to skate on, much to Roxy’s disappointment.

“Is your family rich?” Roxy asked. Calliope shrugged like she was embarrassed.

“Um, kinda. We’ve got a summer home too.”

“That’s where I met you and your twin bro during vacation!” Gamzee said, grinning. Calliope nodded and smiled.

“Tho, what are we doing here?” Sollux asked.

“Snowball fight!” Gamzee declared. “We’ll make our own forts and see who gets taken down first!”

“Yeah!” Roxy exclaimed. “Teams of two! I’m with Calliope!”

“Cool, I’m with Tavbro. Karbro and Solbro, you two are a team.”

“This is like our drama class.” Karkat commented.

“That’s cuz you two are so cute together.” Roxy said, grinning. Karkat groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Whatever. Let’s get started.”

They all made sure their forts had equal spacing between them. Sollux worked on the fort while Karkat made snowballs to throw. He made sure there wouldn’t be any rocks in them since they didn’t want to injure anyone. And of course none of them would throw any at Tavros. That would be mean.

When they all got theirs ready they started throwing. Karkat couldn’t aim or throw so he just made snowballs and passed them to Sollux. Sollux was great at throwing  _and_ aiming it turned out. Calliope and Roxy were pretty good too. Then there was Gamzee. Since he was the strongest and tallest, he had the best advantage. Of course, he would usually be an easier target then. But he could duck down quickly if he had to and dodge easily. Karkat found in infuriating that Sollux couldn’t hit him.

When they called for a break they were all exhausted and snowballs littered both the ground and the sides of their forts. Eventually Roxy declared it a truce and they all sat down in the snow. Roxy and Calliope made snow angels while Tavros made sculptures in the snow. He made a bull with wings and a sleeping sea-serpent of some sort but with a goat head.

“Hey, let’s make a snow castle!” Roxy said.

“Sure.” Gamzee said. So they used what was left of Roxy and Calliope’s fort to start it. It wasn’t very big and only had one room and a hole for a door.

“Okay Calliope! You stand in there and be the princess!” Roxy said.

“Um, okay.” Calliope stood in the castle. “Now what?”

“Wait one minute. Tavros, can you help me sculpt something?”

“Oh, okay.” Roxy whispered to Tavros and he nodded. They started sculpting something while the others watched.

“What are you making?” Calliope asked.

“You’ll see!” Roxy said. After awhile they finished and Karkat saw that they had sculpted a dragon in front of the castle.

“What’s that for?” he asked.

“Hang on, I need a big stick.” Roxy said. She ran to the forest and came back with a branch. “This’ll do!”

“Um, what are you doing?” Calliope asked. Roxy grinned and held up her branch.

“I’m the prince who’s come to save the princess Calliope from captivity by an evil dragon!” She looked at the dragon statue and grinned. “I hope no one likes the statue _too_ much because it won’t last long!” Then she began attacking it with the stick. Karkat couldn’t help but laugh as he watched. Even Calliope was smiling. When Roxy had successfully hacked away at the dragon to Calliope she bowed. “My dear princess, I, Prince Roxy, have rescued you from the clutches of that evil dragon!”

“I thank you kind Prince.” Calliope said, grinning and curtsying. “Now we may ride off together in the sunset.” Roxy grinned and picked Calliope up and put her on her shoulders.

“Of course my princess!” she said. She then ran around the snow castle, laughing. Calliope laughed too and Gamzee clapped.

“Great performances sis’s!” he said.

“Now it’s Karkat and Sollux’s turn!” Roxy declared.

“What?!” Karkat exclaimed.

“Yeah! Karkat, get in the castle!”

“No! What the fuck?!”

“Yeah! Go on!” Roxy grabbed his arm but he pulled out of her grasp.

“No way! Fuck off!”

“Gamzee, Sollux! Help me out here!” Roxy lunged at Karkat again and he dodged out of the way. Then Gamzee picked him up.

“Fuck! Gamzee put me down!” Gamzee laughed and slung him over his shoulder.

“Don’t worry Karbro. Tavbro and I will take a turn after.”

“Put me down!” Karkat yelled again. He noticed Tavros had started blushing from what Gamzee had said. Huh, did he like him maybe?

“In you go!” Gamzee threw Karkat into the castle. Karkat stood up to get out but Roxy threw a snowball at him hard enough it knocked him down.

“Quick! Make the dragon!” she said. Karkat sat up and was about to get out but Gamzee had a talent of grabbing a bunch of snow at once and they’d blocked his path.

“Fuck you guys!” Karkat yelled. They all laughed.

“Come on! Let’s make the dragon!” Roxy said. Karkat ground his teeth and looked around. Okay, he wasn’t going through with this. So he walked up to a wall and started digging through it. It was a bit thick so it took awhile but eventually he got through. Then he climbed to the top of the castle and made a snowball. Then he leaned over and threw it at Sollux.

“KK! You jerk!” Sollux made a snowball and threw it at him Karkat ducked and laughed. He jumped down and tackled Sollux. They rolled around in the snow for awhile until Sollux pinned Karkat to the ground. 

“Dammit Sollux.” Karkat mumbled. Sollux laughed and got off him.

“I win.” he said. Karkat stood up and brushed snow off him. Then he noticed the others were laughing.

“That was great!” Roxy said, giving them a thumbs-up. “Okay, if Karkat won’t be a good captive princess let’s go with Gamzee and Tavros. Who’s going in the castle?”

“I will.” Gamzee said.

“What?” Tavros exclaimed. “But, I can’t walk. How am I supposed to get rid of the dragon?”

“Just use the stick.” Gamzee said. “C’mon Tavbro.”

“Uh, I don’t know…why don’t you?” Tavros said. Gamzee shrugged.

“Sure thing princess.” Tavros blushed and mumbled something. Karkat watched as Roxy and Calliope put Tavros in the castle and then began working on the dragon, which they hadn’t finished for Karkat.

It turned out Gamzee’s method of getting rid of the dragon was to just club it with the stick until it finally fell apart. It took a lot longer than it took Roxy and they were all laughing as he did. When he got through he picked up “Princess Tavros” and carried him out. Roxy and Calliope cheered and Sollux clapped. Karkat just sighed and rolled his eyes. His friends could be so weird.

After all that they had hot chocolate in Calliope’s living room. She lived with her grandpa, who greeted them politely and referred to himself simply as “their host”. He was bald and surprisingly pale. He was wearing a green suit and talked a lot. Too much, according to Karkat’s opinion.

“He’s always like that.” Calliope said. “Just try to ignore him.”

“This place is a lot like your summer home.” Gamzee commented. Calliope nodded.

“Yeah, it was built to resemble this house. There are a few differences though.”

“Yeah, like there’s no balcony that looks over an ocean.” Gamzee commented. “Do you have a sky-light in your room here?”

“No, just at the summer home.” Karkat was sure Roxy and Tavros’s expressions looked odd. But he ignored it and just drank his hot chocolate.

When he got home he ducked into his room to avoid Kankri. He then finally decided to start packing. Kanaya had already folded some clothes for him and piled them on his bed. So he just grabbed his suitcase and some extra stuff, like coats and a hat and gloves and started shoving them all in. He (amazingly) managed to fit it all in and shut the suitcase without (too much) difficulty.

“You excited for the trip tomorrow?” Porrim asked at supper. Karkat shrugged.

“I guess.” he said.

“Well I hope you have fun.” Kanaya said.

“Yeah.”


	8. Chapter 8

The next day was a bit hectic for Karkat. Kankri started lecturing him about the trip once he got up and he nearly missed getting to school on time for the bus to pick him up. He sat next to Sollux while Gamzee and Tavros sat in front of them and Calliope and Roxy sat behind them. The bus ride was long and loud and Karkat mostly tuned out what was going on around him. He was sitting by the window so he just looked out it and let his mind wander.

Eventually the bus went passed a forest. Karkat felt himself tense up, even though it wasn’t the forest he’d lived in as a kid. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He didn’t want to start getting some flashbacks.

“You okay KK?” Sollux asked, shaking his shoulder. Karkat opened his eyes and nodded.

“I’m fine.” he said. He looked out the window and was relieved to see they’d passed by the forest. He could feel Sollux’s eyes on him but he ignored him and just kept staring out the window. He couldn’t just tell Sollux he was afraid of getting flashbacks of his parents’ murder whenever he passed by a forest. Okay, actually, it was only when he passed by one with mostly arbutus trees. Luckily there were only a few forests with any in them in Alternia.

It was hours before the bus finally arrived at their destination. It was some snowy mountain with a ski resort. When they got there they were immediately shown to their cabins. The girls’ and guys’ cabins were across from each other. And each one had a chaperone who had the key to the cabin. This was to keep the boys from getting into the girls’ cabins and vice-versa.

Kankri, Sollux, Gamzee and Tavros were in a cabin together with their chaperone being some teacher they didn’t know. The cabins were rather small with only three bunk beds. Sollux was going to sleep on a top bunk until Karkat pointed out he’d roll off in his sleep and hit his head. So instead Karkat got a top bunk and Sollux got the one underneath him. Tavros got the bottom bunk next to Gamzee and the teacher got a top bunk.

For the first day they were just getting used to their surroundings. There was a main cabin that had the eating hall and a lounge for everyone to share. They all hung out there with Roxy and Calliope, who got a cabin together. There was a nice fireplace with couches in front of it, but they were all taken when they got there.

“Why don’t we hang out outside?” Gamzee suggested. So they stood outside and began making snowmen. Tavros made a snow sculpture of a large snake. Karkat had to admit it was pretty impressive. But once he finished it Calliope walked over to it and kicked it until it was ruined.

“Hey!” Tavros exclaimed.

“I don’t like snakes!” Calliope yelled. She looked rather freaked out. She kept rubbing her left arm and staring at the ruined sculpture like it would bite her. But the sculpture hadn’t even looked that real. Gamzee patted her head and whispered something to her. She nodded and apologized to Tavros. Once again Karkat thought he saw that change of expression in both Roxy and Tavros. What the heck?

 

During the evening Karkat, Sollux, Gamzee and Tavros stayed up late telling weird jokes and stories. Sollux had plenty of stories from the town he was from. He told them about some girl who accidentally set off the fire alarm at his school by throwing her shoe at her brother but he dodged and it hit the fire alarm. Karkat and the others laughed and told stories of their own. Except Karkat didn’t tell any stories, he just listened.

Then their chaperone yelled at them to go to sleep and turned out the light. Karkat lay down for awhile but after a few hours he realized he couldn’t sleep. He just kept tossing and turning. Maybe it was because he wasn’t used to sleeping in the cabin? He supposed that that could make sense…

“Gamzee?” Tavros whispered. Karkat looked over at Gamzee and saw that he was clutching his sheets and moaning something while shaking his head.

“Gamzee, what’s wrong?” Karkat asked. Gamzee just mumbled something Karkat couldn’t understand. Tavros reached over and shook his shoulder but Gamzee didn’t wake up.

“What’th going on?” Sollux asked sleepily.

“Looks like Gamzee’s having a nightmare.” Karkat said. Tavros shook Gamzee’s shoulder again but Gamzee just growled and shook his head harder. Then he sat up suddenly, gasping.

“Gamzee?” Tavros whispered. “Are you okay?” Gamzee nodded, breathing hard.

“Fine.” Gamzee said.

“You sure?” Karkat asked. “You were having a nightmare.”

“Yeah…I haven’t had it for awhile.” Gamzee said. “Not for a couple months.”

BAM! BAM! Karkat jumped at the sound of someone knocking on their door. Gamzee got up and opened it, revealing Roxy and a crying Calliope.

“She--she woke up screaming and she won’t stop crying.” Roxy explained. “She said to get you-”

Gamzee pulled Calliope into a hug and started whispering quickly in her ear. Calliope sobbed and clutched his shoulders tightly. Gamzee kept whispering and picked her up. He carried her outside and out behind the cabin. Probably for privacy, Karkat assumed. He looked at Roxy and Tavros and frowned.

“Okay, what is with you two?” he asked. “Why are you acting so weird?”

“Tavroth liketh Gamzee and Roxy liketh Calliope.” Sollux said. Tavros and Roxy stared at him, both looking shocked.

“Wait, what?!” Karkat exclaimed.

“You never notithed?”

“Well, I kinda suspected the Tavros thing. But Roxy surprised me.”

“Thought I was too hot to be gay?” Roxy asked, smirking. Karkat groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Do you think they like each other?” Tavros asked.

“Why don’t you athk them?” Sollux asked. Tavros shrugged.

“I dunno…”

 

“Th-the nightmares are getting worse.” Calliope wailed. Gamzee stroked her hair and whispered “Shoosh” to her.

“Yeah, I got one too. Don’t worry, they’re just nightmares, they can’t hurt you.”

“But when I wake up the scars are burning.” Calliope rubbed the spots where scars were hidden from view. Gamzee stroked them softly.

“That happened months ago. You’re fine. He can’t get to you again.”

“I’m still scared.” Calliope sniffed and Gamzee wiped her eyes. “Every night, I’m still scared he’s going to come and find me.”

“He can’t get to you. I made sure of that, didn’t I?” Calliope nodded.

“Yeah, I know.”

“It’ll be okay. Really.”

“…Will you sing me a lullaby?” Gamzee smiled and nodded. He rocked Calliope gently in his arms.

“You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies, lit up the world as I fell asleep. ‘Cause they’d fill the open air and leave teardrops everywhere, you’d think me rude but I would just stand and stare. I’d like to make myself believe, that planet Earth turns…slowly. It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay awake when I’m asleep. Cuz everything is never as it seems…”


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning they all sat together at a table and ate breakfast. Breakfast that day was waffles with organic maple syrup and a fruit salad with a glass of apple cider. Karkat found it delicious. He had no idea what the others thought. Roxy and Tavros were rather quiet and kept glancing at Calliope, who was talking to Gamzee.

“Calliope, are you and Gamzee a couple?” Roxy blurted out. Calliope and Gamzee stared at her in surprise.

“What? No, that’s silly.” Calliope said. “He’s like my older brother, but we’re not related.”

“I thought you had a twin brother.” Sollux said. Calliope frowned and nodded.

“He’s in juvie.” she said.

“Oh. Thorry.” Calliope shook her head.

“It’s fine.”

After breakfast they all went outside for skiing. They had to stay with their cabin groups, which was fine. But once they started skiing they could go in any group they wanted. Gamzee accompanied Tavros to a slope that people with disabilities could go down. Karkat, Sollux, Calliope and Roxy decided on a beginner slope since none of them had ever skied before.

Karkat quickly found out he sucked at skiing. He kept slipping and falling on his side or not being able to turn and running into someone. Sollux and Roxy laughed at him enough that eventually he shoved them both.

“Chill KK.” Sollux said.

“Yeah Karkat. Just have fun!” Roxy said, still snickering. Even Calliope was smiling. Karkat stuck his tongue out and flipped them off.

“Real mature KK.” Sollux said.

“Shut up.” Karkat snapped.

After a few hours of skiing/falling down a lot, Karkat decided to stop and just hang out in the lounge. He lay down on one of the couches and smiled. This was plenty more enjoyable. He just had to remember to get to the eating hall for lunch. He closed his eyes and eventually fell asleep.

 

“KK. Wake up.” Karkat smacked the hand shaking his shoulder and someone sighed. “KK, it’th time for lunch. We’re gonna eat without you.” Karkat groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. Sollux was staring down and him and the others were waiting by the door.

“Come on Karkat. Let’s go.” Roxy said. Karkat sighed and stood up. He’d been enjoying his nap. He followed the others to the eating hall and they grabbed turkey sandwiches and sat down. Karkat could hear other kids discussing staying inside for the rest of the day. He knew that’s what he would be doing.

“Are you guys gonna keep skiing?” Roxy asked. Karkat shook his head and Sollux did too.

“I don’t think I will either.” Calliope said. “I’ve had enough for today.”

“Tavbro and I are gonna keep going.” Gamzee said. Tavros nodded.

“Okay, cool. Let’s all rush for good seats in the lounge.” Roxy said. So they ate quickly and Gamzee and Tavros went back outside while Karkat and the others went and sat down in the lounge. They all sat on the same couch and after awhile other kids came and sat down, talking loudly. Karkat leaned his head back and closed his eyes and drowned out the noise. He just wanted to get some sleep after hardly getting any last night.

 

“ _Can you come here for a minute Karkat?” Mom asked. “We’ve got something to tell you.”_

“ _We aren’t moving are we?” Karkat asked nervously. “I’m just a kid, I don’t wanna move.”_

“ _Relax, we’re not moving.” Dad said. Karkat relaxed and smiled._

“ _Then what is it?”_

“ _Well, you’re going to have a little sister.” Mom said, smiling excitedly._

“ _What?” Karkat had no idea how else to respond._

“ _I’m pregnant, and the doctors confirmed it will be a girl.” Mom said. “You can pick her name if you want.”_

“ _Really?”_

“ _Yeah. You can take as long as you want to think up something.” Karkat smiled and looked around the room. Maybe there was something he could name her after. Then he noticed the newspaper. He picked it up and looked at the article._

“ _Oh, that’s adult stuff. Might not want to look at it.” Dad said, reaching for the newspaper._

“ _A murderer escaped prison?” Karkat asked nervously._

“ _Don’t worry, there’s wanted posters everywhere and the police are searching. We’re fine.” Mom said. Karkat nodded and skimmed the article. It was telling how the murderer was last seen when he killed a girl downtown and ran off. Karkat stared at the name of the girl._

“ _I’ve thought of a name.” he said._

“ _You did? What?” Mom asked._

“ _Nepeta.”_

 

“KK, wake up.” Karkat sighed and opened his eyes.

“What?”

“We’ve got a problem.” Karkat looked around in surprise. When had the lounge been turned into a party? And where the hell had the alcohol come from?!

“Want some Karkles?” Roxy asked, holding up a bottle. Karkat shook his head and pushed it away.

“Roxy brought it all.” Calliope said. “And now she’s drunk and so is everyone else here. What do we do?”

“Uh, I dunno. Let’s take her outside. Maybe fresh air will help.” So Calliope picked up Roxy and carried her outside. Karkat and Sollux followed her. Calliope plunked Roxy down in the snow and sat next to her. Roxy kept giggling like everything was unbearably funny.

“Roxy, why did you bring all that alcohol?” Sollux asked.

“Becuz it’s sooo great!” Roxy slurred, still giggling. She slapped Sollux’s shoulder and grinned. “You guys gotta have some. It great!”

“No Roxy. We don’t.” Calliope said. “Now please just get sober already.” Roxy laughed and shook her head.

“No way! I feel too great tah get sober!” She hiccupped and started laughing.

“What are you motherfuckers doing?” Gamzee asked, pushing Tavros to them.

“Roxy brought a bunch of alcohol and got everyone in there drunk.” Calliope said, pointing to the lounge. “How do we get her sober?”

“Just let her sleep it off and the miracles will do their work.” Gamzee said. “I’ll go let a teacher know about this.” He walked off with Tavros, leaving them with Roxy.

“Okay, do you want to go to sleep Roxy?” Calliope asked. Roxy shook her head, frowning. “What’s wrong?”

“I feel sick…” Roxy said. Calliope grabbed her arm and dragged her to her feet.

“Then let’s go to the bathroom before you hurl.” She half carried half dragged Roxy off and Karkat and Sollux just went back to their cabin.

“Well this has been a great start to this trip.” Karkat said sarcastically. Sollux nodded.

“At leatht it’th not boring.”

 

Calliope stayed with Roxy in the bathroom until night. Roxy was puking for half the time, and the other half she was just coughing a bunch. Calliope helped her wash her face and clothes (she’d puked on them a bit) and cleaned up the floor too. She knew that an adult could come and clean it but she felt like helping so she did it herself.

“Feel better Roxy?” Calliope asked. Roxy shrugged and started giggling a bit.

“Kinda tired.” she said. Calliope sighed and helped her up. She was clearly still drunk.

“Okay, let’s go to bed. You done hurling?”

“Yeah, I’m done.” So Calliope helped her to their cabin. When they got there everyone else was already asleep.

Their cabin didn’t have bunk beds and it was bigger than the cabin Karkat, Sollux, Gamzee and Tavros got. Instead it had some mattresses lined up together on the floor. Calliope dragged Roxy to their mattresses, which were right next to each other. Calliope lay Roxy down then lay down next to her. Roxy reached over and hugged her.

“You’re beautiful Calliope.” she muttered. “No matter what you say.” Calliope couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s really sweet of you Roxy.” she said. “You should get to sleep now.”

“Don’t you think you’re beautiful?” Roxy asked. Calliope hesitated before shaking her head.

“No, I don’t. My eyes are too big and my face is too thin and my hair…” Calliope felt the white hair on her head and sighed. “I wish I was like you Roxy. You’re really pretty.”

“You’re pretty too Calliope.” Roxy said. Calliope shook her head.

“No I’m not.” Roxy pulled her closer to her and hugged her tight.

“You’re adorable Calliope.” she said. Calliope smiled.

“Thanks Roxy. So are you.” Roxy smiled and they locked eyes. “Now go to sleep.” Roxy nodded, still smiling.

Then Roxy leaned forward and kissed her.

“G’night.” she whispered. She let Calliope go and pulled the blanket over her head and instantly fell asleep.

Calliope had no idea what to do. Had her best friend just kissed her? Her best friend just kissed her! She  _was_ drunk, but she kissed her! Calliope covered her face with her hands and closed her eyes. What was she supposed to do? Had Roxy really meant that? Or had she just been drunk and crazy? Calliope looked at Roxy but she was asleep. She would just have to ask her about it in the morning. Calliope pulled her blanket over her face and closed her eyes. But she was so flustered she doubted she could fall asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day Roxy was absent during breakfast. Calliope said she was still sleeping.

“She’d better get up if she wants food. It’s going fast.” Gamzee said, watching other kids help themselves to the pancakes.

“We’d better not have to do more skiing.” Karkat grumbled.

“Naw, today we’re going hiking.” Gamzee said.

“Oh, great.” Karkat didn’t _hate_ hiking, he just didn’t find it very interesting. But of course he had no choice but to go. Since they were hiking uphill Gamzee was carrying Tavros. Calliope was staying behind to wait for Roxy to wake up.

“C’mon Karbro, this’ll be fun!” Gamzee said. Karkat just shrugged.

They were being led by some tour guides who separated them into groups. They were all in the same group so none of them complained. Their tour guide, some very optimistic-seeming girl about their age, led them down a forest trail.

“You probably won’t see any animals along the trail because they’re all hiding from people.” she said, gesturing around them. “But if you do see something don’t yell or take any pictures or you’ll scare it off. If I see any cameras out I’ll confiscate them immediately.” Some kids groaned and she instantly got them to hand over their cameras. “Phones will also be confiscated if I see them out.”

“I’m already one hundred percent sure this will be unbelievably boring.” Karkat commented.

“Shut up and enjoy yourthelf KK.” Sollux said.

 

Calliope sat on her mattress and ran her fingers through the white hair on her head. She sighed and looked at Roxy. She was still asleep. How could she sleep for so long? It was already 9 o’clock and sun was shining right on her face. Calliope reached over and shook Roxy’s shoulder.

“Wake up Roxy.” she whispered. Roxy mumbled something and squinted her eyes open.

“Calliope?” she mumbled.

“Good morning. You missed breakfast.” Roxy sat up and stretched her arms.

“Dang. What was it?”

“Pancakes. Do you remember anything about yesterday?”

“Uh, yeah. I got drunk.” Roxy smirked and shook her head. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, the teachers don’t know it was you who brought it.” Roxy sighed.

“Phew. Safe!” Roxy grabbed her clothes and started getting dressed. Calliope politely turned away.

“Do you remember anything that happened while you were drunk?” she asked. Roxy shrugged.

“Uh, no. Not really. Why?” Calliope sighed quietly.

“Nothing. I was just wondering.” Roxy stopped and looked at her.

“What did I do?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

“No, I _did_. I can tell you’re not telling me something. What did I do?” Calliope sighed and looked at Roxy.

“You kissed me.” Roxy’s mouth fell open and she blinked.

“……Oh.” she finally said. Calliope sighed and stared at the ground.

“After I dragged you back to bed you hugged me and told me I’m beautiful. Then you kissed me.”

“You are beautiful!” Roxy said. She reached over and patted her head. Calliope smiled and shook her head.

“I-I was just wondering if you were serious. About the kiss.”

“Oh.”

“But if you were drunk, I guess not.” Calliope smiled, though she didn’t feel particularly happy.

“Uh, actually I did.” Roxy said, looking at the ground. Calliope stared at her in surprise.

“Huh?”

“Um, I did mean it. I was serious.” Calliope felt herself blush and she covered her face with her hands.

“O-oh.” Now what was she supposed to do? Her best friend had kissed her and _meant_ it!

“I understand if you aren’t interested in girls.” Roxy said.

“No—I mean, I…I don’t know.” Calliope said. She brought her hands down and rested them on her lap. “No one’s ever called me beautiful before. Gamzee said that yesterday while we were skiing, but he’s like my brother so it’s like that doesn’t count.”

“You _are_ beautiful.” Roxy repeated. “Why are you so hard on yourself?”

“Because I’m _not!_ ” Calliope exclaimed. “My eyes are too big, my face is too thin, and my hair’s…”

“I think it’s pretty.” Roxy rubbed her behind her ear, then stopped. She felt along the edge of the white hair. “Wait, is this a wig?”

“Yeah.” Calliope sighed. “I’m actually bald. I just use a special kind of glue for this wig.”

“So? Then you can have the hair colour of your choice without having to dye it!” Roxy said. “And hair dye is bad for your hair anyway, right?”

“Yeah…”

“So cheer up! You’re beautiful!”

“But I’m not!” Calliope insisted. “I’m too thin, my fingers are too long and-”

“Stop it!” Roxy exclaimed. She reached forward and pulled Calliope into a hug. “Don’t do that. You are beautiful, you just won’t admit it.” Calliope gave up trying to argue and just hugged Roxy back. “Have you ever actually been told by someone you’re not beautiful?” Calliope nodded.

“My brother said I’m ugly.”

“Well, you’re brother’s a dick and you said he’s in juvie anyway.”

“Yeah…”

“So you’re beautiful! Stop denying it!” Roxy held her face to her and kissed her. “You’re my beautiful princess Calliope.” Calliope blushed and hugged Roxy.

“Thank you.”


	11. Chapter 11

“This is fucking boring.” Karkat complained. All there was to see was trees, trees and more trees.

“I kinda like it.” Tavros said. Karkat rolled his eyes and Gamzee patted Tavros on the head.

“Me too. Come on Karbro, there’s gotta be something that’ll interest you.” Karkat shook his head.

“Well, at leatht it lookth like there’th thomething up ahead.” Sollux said, pointing ahead of them. Their tour guide had stopped in front of something, but Karkat couldn’t quite make out what. Probably because he was short.

“Let’s see what it is.” he said. He started shoving his way through the crowd of kids. Sollux and Gamzee followed, along with Tavros. When they got to the front of the group they found themselves in front of a burnt building.

“What’th that?” Sollux asked.

“This used to be a house.” the tour guide said. “According to the local legend or whatever, a guy lived with his girlfriend here about fifteen years ago. But one day he killed her and burned the house down and ran away. Supposedly, the girl’s ghost haunts the place now, looking for her ex-lover. And she kills any guy who comes here at night.”

“Why did he kill her?” a kid asked.

“I don’t know. It’s just a legend after all.”

“We gotta come back here at night!” someone said.

“I’ll ask the others to patrol around to make sure no one _does_.” the tour guide said sternly. “Now come on, this is where we head back for lunch.”

When they got back they met up with Calliope and Roxy in the eating hall. Lunch that day was chicken-caesar salad wraps. They all grabbed theirs and sat down together.

“So, how was it?” Roxy asked. “We didn’t get to go after all.”

“Boring.” Karkat said.

“There was a haunted house.” Tavros said.

“Cool! Did you go inside?!” Roxy asked.

“It wathn’t actually.” Sollux said. “It wath a burned-down houthe that ith thuppothedly haunted.”

“But what’s the ghost story?” Roxy asked.

“Apparently a guy lived there with his girlfriend, then one night he killed her and burned the place down. Then he ran.” Gamzee said. “And now her ghost supposedly haunts that place, looking for her motherfucking ex.”

“Cool!” Roxy said.

“How ith that cool?” Sollux asked. “It’th a thtory about thomeone getting killed by thomeone they love.”

“Yeah, but it’s just a story.” Roxy said. Sollux nodded.

“Okay, yeah. That’th true.”

 

That night Karkat and the others stayed up talking again.

“Did you all notithe Roxy and Calliope’th behaviour change?” Sollux asked.

“Yeah.” Karkat said. “So I guess they’re together now.”

“Good for them.” Gamzee said. Tavros nodded and Karkat noticed he was looking at Gamzee. Tavros was just too shy to say anything. Karkat was pretty sure that could be a problem if he wanted to tell Gamzee how he felt.

“You kids should get some sleep now.” their chaperone said. “We’ve got a busy day tomorrow. We’re all going sledding.”

“Cool!” Gamzee said. Karkat nodded and lay down and closed his eyes. He wasn’t all that excited for sledding. There weren’t many activities he found entertaining. He sighed and let his mind wander, and he eventually fell asleep.

 

Sollux couldn’t sleep. He’d had something on his mind since they’d gotten back from the hiking trip. He stood up and took a peek at Karkat. He was sleeping peacefully and calmly. Sollux smiled and rubbed his nose. He was rather sweet when he was asleep. Sollux smiled and glanced at their chaperone. He was asleep. So Sollux quietly snuck outside. Making sure nobody saw him he made his way down the forest trail. Eventually he could see the burnt-down house ahead.

“You know the legend isn’t real right?” Sollux turned and saw the girl who had been their tour guide standing there. “Guys of all ages have gone there at night and nothing’s happened.”

“I know.” Sollux said. “I jutht have to thee thomething.”

“Alright. I’ll make an exception for you. Just don’t be too long.” Sollux nodded and walked up to the burned-down house. He walked to the middle of it and sat down on the ground.

“Ith there really a ghotht here?” he asked aloud. He shook his head and laughed softly. He probably looked so stupid. “I—back in the town I’d lived in, I had a friend who could talk to ghothtth. She could thee them too.” Sollux sighed and rested his head in his hands. “We uthed to go to the graveyard together at night and she would dethcribe all the ghothtth there. We were even friendth with a few.” Sollux sighed and looked up. “I really wish I could talk to her right now. I really mith her.” Something cold touched his shoulder and Sollux turned around and gasped.

A girl was standing behind him. Her blond hair was burnt at the ends and she was covered in burns and a few scars. Half of her left arm was missing. And Sollux could see right through her. In fact, he could hardly see her at all.

“There’s a cloud over your heart.” she whispered, placing her hand on his chest. Sollux sighed and nodded. The girl walked in front of him and bent down so they were facing each other at eye level. “It’s more than that you miss her. You loved her.”

“Yeah.”


	12. Chapter 12

“Okay, the sleds can fit two people on them, so split into groups.” the teacher in front of everyone said.

“The usual!” Roxy said. “Me and Calliope, Gamzee and Tavros and Karkat and Sollux!”

“Whatever.” Karkat said. He sat down in the front of the sled next to him and Sollux sat behind him. Since he was rather tall his feet were right next to Karkat’s. Calliope sat in front of Roxy and Tavros in front of Gamzee. When all the students were ready the first wave of them got to go down. Karkat and the others were in the third wave. Karkat watched the kids in front of him go down. Then they did.

Karkat soon found out he couldn’t steer. So Sollux reached around him and grabbed the sleigh’s handle and steered for them. His head was right next to Karkat’s and Karkat found it rather distracting. That, and the fact that Sollux was almost hugging him.

He also found out that whoever sits in the front of a sled gets a bunch of snow in their face when they get to the bottom. Karkat wound up falling backwards on Sollux, who was laughing.

“That wath great!” he said.

“Speak for yourself.” Karkat grumbled, brushing snow off him. Calliope and Roxy landed next and Gamzee and Tavros had already landed.

“Let’s go again! Let’s go again!” Roxy said excitedly.

“Come on KK.” Sollux grabbed Karkat’s arm and the sled and dragged him to the lifts to get back up the hill.

“I’m sitting in the back this time!” Karkat said.

“You’re too thmall. You’ll fall off.” Sollux said.

“Fuck you.” Karkat snapped. Sollux laughed and brushed snow out of his hair.

They went back down the hill another ten times before they all decided to take a break. They all sat in the lounge and Roxy talked about the town she’d lived in and told a few crazy stories, most of which were about times when she got drunk. Sollux told some stories too and at some point Calliope fell asleep. They skipped lunch because none of them were hungry and kept telling stories.

“What did you do during summer vacation Gamzee?” Roxy asked. “You know, when you met Calliope and her brother.”

“Uh…not much.” Gamzee said. “Nothing much really happened.”

“Come on! There must be some good stories!” Roxy whined. Gamzee laughed and shook his head.

“Nope. Really, nothing happened at all.”

“Please stop…” Karkat looked at Calliope and realized she was talking in her sleep. She moaned and shook her head and wrapped her arms around her. Roxy reached for her but Gamzee picked her up and held her.

“Hey, why can’t I do something?!” Roxy exclaimed. “I’m her girlfriend!”

“ _I_ know what the nightmares are about!” Gamzee snapped. He put Calliope back on the couch next to Roxy but kept hold of her. Calliope kept moaning and shaking. “Wake up Calli. It’s just a nightmare.” 

Calliope shook harder and started screaming. Gamzee covered her mouth immediately. Calliope kept shaking her head and screaming and Gamzee had to put both his hands over her mouth. Eventually she gasped and opened her eyes. She looked up at Gamzee and screamed and shoved him off her. She curled up in a ball and started crying.

“Calli-”

“NO!” Calliope screamed. She was clutching her right shoulder and she shook her head. “N-no. I dreamt about…d-don’t come near me. I’m scared.” Gamzee nodded and sat up. He looked at Roxy then glanced at Calliope. Roxy got the hint and picked Calliope up into a hug.

“It’s okay.” she whispered. “You’re fine. It was just a bad dream. Let’s go to the washroom.” She carried Calliope out of the room.

“Gamzee?” Tavros said. “What was that about?” Gamzee shook his head and sat back down.

“Nothing. It’s fine.”

“That didn’t exactly look fine.” Karkat said. Gamzee just shook his head again.

“Really, it’s fine.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, their chaperone is probably Dave (I never thought it up but I put him as a character here because my sister said that the chaperone seems kind of like Dave or something so now that's Dave.)

“Ow! Crap!” Karkat jumped awake and looked around. Oh, look at that. Their chaperone just fell out of his bed. Ha-ha.

“Are you okay, motherfucker?” Gamzee asked. The chaperone nodded and stood up.

“Totally fine. Okay, it’s conveniently time for breakfast, so all of you get up.”

Breakfast that day was bacon and eggs with toast. While they ate Karkat noticed Tavros would occasionally glance at Gamzee. He had to get more confidence so he could confess his feelings. And from what Karkat could tell, Gamzee seemed totally oblivious. It was actually really pissing him off.

“Hey, apparently we’re making snow sculptures today.” Roxy said. “And it’s gonna be a contest! Everyone’s in groups of twos and tries to make the best sculptures!”

“What doeth the winner get?” Sollux asked. “Ticketth to the Bahamath?”

“Ha-ha! No, they get tickets to an amusement park.” Roxy said. “Not sure how many, but let’s all try to win!”

“And I bet we’re doing the same groups as always.” Karkat grumbled.

“Yeah, so? Don’t you like being with Sollux?” Calliope asked. Karkat shrugged.

“I think he’s shyyyyyy.” Roxy said, grinning. Karkat groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Do _not_ start this.” he grumbled. Roxy’s grin just widened.

“He’s soooo shyyyyyy!”

“Cut it out Roxy!”

“Y’know, denial’s proof!”

“No it’s not! That’s just stupid!”

“You denied that rather forcefully Karkat…”

“Fuck you.”

“Aren’t you gay KK?”

“Holy fuck! Don’t you start too! Jesus!”

“Hee-hee! Karkat’s shyyy! Karkat’s shyyy!” Roxy sang.

“Real mature guys.” Karkat grumbled. Roxy kept teasing him until they left with the other kids for the snow-sculpture contest.

The contest was being held in a big field with plenty of deep snow. There were sections marked with flags at the corners for each group. Karkat and Sollux went in one next to Gamzee and Tavros while Roxy and Calliope went in one across from them.

“Good luck you dream couple!” Roxy called to them. Karkat fingered her and she laughed.

“Okay, you all have an hour and a half to make your sculptures. After that you’re stuck with what you’ve got. So get ready…set…go!” The principal blew his whistle and kids immediately started sculpting.

“What the hell are we supposed to make?” Karkat wondered aloud.

“I dunno. How about a two-headed guy fighting a giant crab?” Sollux said.

“What the actual fuck?”

“Why not? I’ll make the guy with two headth. You make the crab.”

“What—oh, fine.” Karkat started scooping some snow together and trying to form a crab’s body. But he honestly didn’t know much about crabs, so he doubted he could do very good. Sollux, on the other hand, wasn’t doing too bad making a person’s legs. Karkat was pretty sure his crab was going to look like something from a cartoon, while Sollux’s two-headed person would actually look good.

While he worked Karkat looked at what his friends were doing. Gamzee and Tavros were making some sort of giant head. Probably a clown. Meanwhile Roxy and Calliope were making a whole lot of cat sculptures. A  _whole_ lot.

When Karkat finished his crab sculpture he sighed and smacked his forehead. It looked really stupid. Especially compared to Sollux’s, which didn’t look half bad.

“Here, I’ll make it look better.” Sollux said. He bent over the sculpture and started working on it. In the meantime Karkat watched what everyone else was doing. Some kids were making a dragon, two girls were making a bunch of snow flowers and two boys were trying to do the mountain they were currently on. That probably wouldn’t give them extra points.

When the principal blew his whistle again Karkat decided their sculpture was…decent. Sollux hadn’t been able to do much to improve Karkat’s crab and one of the heads on the two-headed guy was starting to fall off. The principal and some teachers went around and looked at all the sculptures. Gamzee and Tavros really had done a giant clown head. It was surprisingly detailed and Karkat decided it looked creepy as fuck. Roxy and Calliope had done maybe more than twenty cat sculptures, all curled up together. The dragon some kids had tried to do looked a bit deformed and the two boys who did the mountain really just ended up with a lump of snow. The girls who did the flowers did good though.

“Okay, we’ve got the results down.” the principal announced. “The winners are Gamzee Makara and Tavros Nitram. Here’s your prize.” Gamzee took the tickets then put Tavros on his shoulders. Roxy and Calliope clapped and Roxy cheered loudly. Karkat grinned at how embarrassed Tavros looked. Gamzee looked positively thrilled.

After the contest they all went to the lounge and Roxy grabbed some soda for them all. They threw a small party (not really much of one considering they just drank soda and talked) for a few hours before it was lunch. During that time Roxy complemented them on the sculpture and they talked about the tickets.

“They’re for March.” Gamzee said, looking at them. “And there’s only two, so they’re for me and Tavbro.”

“No fair! Now we all need to get some!” Roxy said. “Right guys? You all have to get tickets so we go as a group!”

“Okay, sure.” Calliope said. Sollux nodded and Karkat shrugged.

“Doubt I can afford one. I’m broke.” he said.

“Aww, don’t be like that Karkat.” Roxy said. “Just ask your parents to buy you a ticket! I bet they’ll get one if you say it’s so you can hang out with your friends!”

Karkat glared at Roxy and stood up. He stormed out of the room and went to the boy’s washroom. No one else was there and he locked himself in a stall. He sat on the toilet (which had the lid down) and curled up into a ball, covering his face with his arms. Oh, she just had to go and say that! Say  _his parents!_ Well guess what? They’re fucking dead! Karkat took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He pushed away the memories of the man with the knife that started coming back up. Stupid Roxy! Why did she have to do that?! That just ruined the whole fucking day!

 

“Why did he get mad?” Roxy asked. Sollux sighed and Gamzee ran his fingers through his hair.

“Karbro’s parents-”

“Um, Gamzee?” Tavros said. “He could just tell her if he wanted to. He might not want her to know, or…”

“What? I stepped on a sensitive subject, didn’t I?” Roxy asked. Gamzee, Tavros and Sollux nodded.

“Yeah, I think you did.” Sollux said.

“Karbro’s parents are dead.” Gamzee said. Roxy covered her face with her hands.

“Shit.” she said. Calliope frowned and patted Roxy on the back.

“It’s not your fault, you didn’t know.” she said. Roxy sighed and nodded.

“That still makes me a bit of a jerk.” Sollux stood up.

“I’ll go talk to him.” he said. Gamzee looked at him briefly before nodding. Sollux walked down the hall and listened to the sounds around him. He could hear Karkat’s breathing, which was a bit uneven. He followed the sound to the washroom. Sollux walked in and looked around. He stopped by the only closed stall and knocked on the door.

“Go away!” Karkat snapped. Sollux sighed.

“KK, I’m trying to comfort you. Can I come in?”

“No. Fuck you. Leave me alone!”

“I will climb in there KK. I’m theriouth.”

“Go away!” Sollux grabbed the top of the stall door and pulled himself up. He dropped down into the stall and stood in front of Karkat, who glared at him. “I said go away!” Sollux crossed his arms and shook his head.

“Nope. I’m not gonna KK.” Karkat groaned and covered his face with his arms. Sollux reached over and pulled his arms away. Karkat glared up at him. “Look, are you okay?”

“Oh for—no! I’m not!” Karkat snapped. “My parents are dead.” he muttered. “How the fuck could I be okay?! She just brought up that fucking subject like it’s no big deal-”

“Okay, calm down!” Sollux snapped. “She didn’t know, tho it’th not her fault! And having a huge tantrum over it ithn’t helping!”

“Fuck you! Don’t talk to me like that! You’re not my mom-” Karkat scowled and pulled his arms out of Sollux’s grip. “Just go away.” Sollux sighed and pulled Karkat into a hug.

“Nope.”

“Fuck you! Let me go!” Karkat shoved him off him and glared at him. “I’m fine! Just leave me alone!” Karkat curled up into a ball and turned his back to Sollux.

“You thure you’re okay?” Sollux asked.

“…I just want some quiet, okay?”

“Okay. But I’m not leaving.”

“Fine.”

After that Sollux didn’t try to talk to Karkat. That obviously would have set him off again. Instead Sollux just stayed there and kept an eye on him. Karkat didn’t move the whole time. Sollux had no idea how long they stayed there. But eventually Karkat got up and walked out of the stall and Sollux followed him. It was past lunch time and everyone was off somewhere. Karkat and Sollux just went to their cabin and went in through the window because it was still locked. Karkat lay down on his bed and so did Sollux. They were both quiet and the only sound was their breathing.

After a few hours Gamzee and Tavros arrived.

“It’s time for supper.” Tavros said. Karkat got up quietly and Sollux followed him and the others to the eating hall. Supper was hamburgers but Karkat didn’t really eat much of his.

“Um, I’m sorry for what I said earlier.” Roxy said. Karkat ignored her and kept picking at his hamburger. “I really didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine!” Karkat snapped. He picked up his burger and started eating it. They were all quiet during for the rest of the supper. When they finished they all went to bed. But they didn’t talk at all.

“Jeez, aren’t you guys usually more talkative?” their chaperone asked.

“Maybe we just don’t feel like fucking talking!” Karkat snapped. The chaperone glared at him but didn’t get into an argument. After awhile everyone fell asleep one after the other. Except Sollux. He stayed awake awhile after the others were asleep. He stared at the bottom of the bed above him, which Karkat was in. Sollux was filled with self-doubts and he tried to repress them. But it was hard. Roxy had brought up an upsetting subject, and Karkat wasn’t the only one who was upset by it.

Eventually Sollux forced himself to stop thinking and fell asleep after awhile.


	14. Chapter 14

“Hey KK, wake up.” Sollux shook Karkat’s shoulder and he sighed and opened his eyes.

“What?!” he grumbled.

“There’th a blizzard.” Sollux said. Karkat sat up immediately.

“Wait, what?!” Sollux pointed to the window, where plenty of snow could be seen blowing by. Gamzee was sitting next to Tavros and their chaperone was talking on a walkie-talkie. Karkat groaned and lay back down. “We’re fucking trapped in here, aren’t we?”

“Yep.” Sollux said.

“ _Great._ ”

 

“G’morning Calliope.” Roxy mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

“Good morning Roxy.” Calliope said. “Um, by the way. There’s a blizzard outside.”

“Huh? What?” Roxy stood up and looked out the window. “Well shit, there is.”

“And we’re stuck in here for now.” Calliope said.

“Look on the bright side of things.” one girl said. “At least every cabin has a bathroom.”

“Okay, yeah. That’s true.” Roxy said, giggling.

“Do we even have any food?” Calliope asked.

“I have pretzels, chips and some gum.” Roxy said, pulling the items out of her bag. “But nothing to drink.”

“We can just melt snow.” the chaperone said.

“C’mon! Think of this as sleepover!” one girl said. “Let’s do everything we do at sleepovers!”

“Like what?” Calliope asked. “I’ve never been on a sleepover.”

“Pillow fight!” Roxy declared, throwing her pillow at Calliope.

“Yeah!” the one girl cheered. “Everyone grab a pillow and attack!”

Half a second later they were all ducking and hitting pillows and laughing loudly.

 

“Why are they being so loud?!” Karkat grumbled. They could hear the girls from their cabin.

“Dunno. What are they even doing?” Sollux asked.

“Probably some stupid girl things.” the chaperone said. “Okay, did any of you bring snacks?”

“I’ve got thome cheetoth.” Sollux said, holding up a bag.

“I’ve got faygo.” Gamzee said.

“Okay…and all I have is a bunch of dried fruit.” the chaperone said, holding up some bags. “Now, we have to make this last the whole blizzard. So, don’t eat too much.”

“What are we supposed to do while we’re stuck here?” Tavros asked.

“Play on your phones or talk. I don’t care.” Their chaperone went back to talking on his walkie-talkie and Karkat pulled out his phone and started playing flappy bird. The others did the same and soon the cabin was filled with the familiar ding!-ding!-ding!-thwack! “Okay, will you guys please turn the god-damn volume off or something?!”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Karkat asked. The chaperone scowled and went back to his walkie-talkie. Karkat grinned and kept playing. Ding-ding-thwack! “Fuck!” Sollux reached up and took Karkat’s phone.

“Hey KK, what’th your high-thcore?”

“Hey, give that back!” Karkat reached for the phone but Sollux held it away.

“Three? Theriouthly?” Sollux smirked and tossed the phone back to Karkat.

“Fuck you.” Karkat grumbled. Sollux grinned and sat next to Karkat. He started playing flappy bird and Karkat listened to the on-going ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!-ding!

“I can go on for awhile.” Sollux said. Karkat rolled his eyes and went back to his own flappy bird. Ding-ding-ding-thwack!

“Shit!” Karkat tried again. Ding!-ding! Sollux reached over and tapped at Karkat’s screen. “Fuck! Stop!” Thwack! “Jesus Sollux! Cut it out!”

“Heh-heh.” Sollux went back to his game. Karkat reached over and tapped at his screen. Ding!-ding!-thwack! “My thcore’th thtill higher than yourth.” Sollux pointed out.

“Whatever. Shut up.” Ding!-ding!-thwack! “Shit!” Karkat chucked his phone at the wall. Gamzee jumped and spilled the faygo he’d been drinking on his shirt. He chucked Karkat’s phone back to him and put his bottle of faygo down.

“Shit. Do you think this motherfucking miracle will wash out?” he asked, staring at the red stain.

“How the fuck should I know?” Karkat grumbled. Gamzee shrugged and took his shirt off. He turned around and looked for a shirt in his bag. Tavros’s face was red and he looked away from Gamzee. Karkat rolled his eyes and glanced at Gamzee. His gaze was drawn to the back of his right shoulder.

“What’th that thcar from?” Sollux asked, pointing Gamzee’s shoulder. Gamzee stopped and looked to where Sollux was pointing.

“Oh, that’s nothing. Just something that happened during the summer.” he said. He pulled a clean shirt on and went back to drinking what was left of his faygo. Karkat could tell they all wanted a better explanation but Gamzee obviously wasn’t going to give them one. So Karkat just went back to playing flappy bird.

 

“Okay, time out!” Everyone collapsed on the mattresses, laughing. Roxy grinned at Calliope.

“Had fun?” she asked.

“Yeah. But that was tiring.” Calliope said.

“Hey Roxy, can we have some snacks now?” a girl asked.

“Sure!” Roxy held up the pretzels, chips and gum. “Which do you want?”

“Chips!”

“Pretzels!” Roxy opened both bags and handed some out.

“Want some Calliope?”

“Sure, I’ll have pretzels.” Calliope reached into the bag and pulled out a handful. She sat next to Roxy and ate them while Roxy had some chips. While they ate some girls started telling funny stories. The chaperone finished talking on her walkie-talkie and listened politely. Calliope thought she looked a bit tired.

“Um, Jade?” one girl asked the chaperone. “Um…can you contact the cabin my brother’s in?”

“Sure. Which cabin is he in?” Jade asked, puling out her walkie-talkie.

“Cabin two. Um, can you ask if he’s there?”

“Can’t you just phone him?”

“I tried, but he’s not answering.”

“Okay, hang on.” Jade pressed some buttons on the walkie-talkie. “Hey, John. Is everyone there in your cabin?”

“Yeah, why? Are some of yours missing?”

“No, Emma’s wondering about her brother. He’s in your cabin.”

“Oh, he’s asleep with the covers pulled over him.”

“Can you please wake him up?!” Emma yelled.

“Sure, hang on.” There was a pause as John went to wake up Emma’s brother. “…Um, Jade?”

“What is it?”

“Uh, okay y’know that trick of putting clothes and stuff under your blankets so it looks like you’re still there but actually you-”

“John, please tell me this is one of you’re pranks!”

“…Nope.”

“He went to see the burned-down house!” Emma cried. “He said he was going last night!”

“Oh, dammit. But I’d gotten patrols out there! They should have caught him!” Jade said.

“Well, I’ll ask some others and see if they did, okay?” John said.

“Okay. Let me know if you get results, whether they’re positive or negative.”

“Okay.” Jade put the walkie-talkie down and sighed.

“This is all my fault!” Emma wailed. “I should have stopped him, or told someone!”

“It’s not your fault!” Jade said. “And it’s going to be fine. There were plenty of patrols out last night, I’m sure someone caught him.” Jade patted Emma’s back and the atmosphere in the cabin had become rather awkward.

 

“Hey, have you seen Emma’s brother Rick?”

“No, why?” 

“Uh…well, he’s not here and his sister said he was going to the burned-down house last night-”

“John, you just screwed up massively. What the hell?!”

“I’m sorry! I’ll keep asking! Um, let me know if you hear something!”

“I will.”

“What wath that all about?” Sollux asked the chaperone.

“A kid went out to that burned-down house last night and isn’t at his cabin right now.”

“Oh shit.” Gamzee said.

“Yeah.” Karkat sighed and leaned against the wall. Well, the trip was going _fabulous!_

“Hey, move over for a thec.” Sollux said. He crawled past Karkat to the window.

“What are you doing?” Karkat asked.

“I thought I thaw thomeone.” Sollux wiped the condensation on the window away and peered out it. “Huh, gueth not.”

“No one’s gonna be visible out in that storm.” Karkat commented. Sollux nodded and sat back down. Karkat lay down by the window and stared at the ceiling.

“Weren’t there patrols around the burned-down house?” Tavros asked.

“Yeah, but that doethn’t mean the guy couldn’t get patht them.” Sollux said.

They spent the rest of the day playing on their phones until the batteries died and eating cheetos and dried fruit and they melted some snow for water. Karkat didn’t want to try drinking faygo.

 

Calliope and Roxy were both quiet, as were the other girls, for the rest of the day. It wasn’t until later that night, when the snow was calming down a bit, that a call came in over the walkie-talkie.

“Jade! They found him!” John said.

“Oh, great! Where was he?” Jade asked.

“At the burned-down house. He keeps saying that the ghost shielded him from the snow.”

“She did!” a voice in the background yelled. “I’m not crazy! Or delusional!”

“Rick!” Emma cried. Jade handed the walkie-talkie to Emma.

“Emma! Hi, did you worry?”

“Of course I did, you idiot!” Emma yelled. “Don’t do something like that ever again! You’re not necessarily going to be saved next time!”

“Ha-ha! Okay, okay! I get it. Sorry for worrying you.”

“You sure sound carefree, considering you were just stuck in a blizzard!”

“But I wasn’t cold! The ghost kept me warm. Though I forgot to ask her name.”

“I don’t care about a stupid ghost. I’m just glad you’re alive.”

“Okay, enough chick-flick moments. I’m glad too. Now go to bed.”

“ _Yes mother._ ”

“Ha-ha. Good night.”

“Good night.” Emma handed the walkie-talkie back to Jade and she started talking to John. Emma’s friends breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her. Calliope smiled and looked out at the snow. Good thing that turned out alright.


	15. Chapter 15

The next day was the Sunday they headed back. They all packed their bags and crowded back onto the buses. Karkat and his friends sat in the same order they had on the trip there. Roxy chatted away about what they did during the blizzard and how Emma’s brother was okay.

“What did you guys do?” she asked.

“We played flappy bird until our phones died, ate cheetos and dried fruit and drank melted snow.” Karkat said.

“Altho known ath water.” Sollux commented. Karkat rolled his eyes.

When the bus arrived at the school everyone got off and Karkat and Sollux walked home together. They chatted a bit on the walk and Karkat realized he  _was_ getting a bit more sociable. Normally he would have just been completely silent. Actually, he normally didn’t have someone to talk to when he walked home from school. Sollux was a nice change of pace.

“Welcome home.” Kanaya said when he got back. “It’s lunch time if you’re hungry.”

“Yeah.” Karkat walked inside and dumped his stuff in his room. Then he made himself a quick lunch and sat on the couch and watched TV.

“Mom’s grocery shopping right now. She’ll be home in about half and hour.” Kanaya said. Karkat just nodded and kept staring at the TV screen. Half an hour later Porrim showed up.

“Hi Karkat. How was the field trip?” she asked as she put groceries away.

“Alright.” Karkat said. “Oh yeah, apparently I have to get a ticket to an amusement park so we can all go as a group.”

“How much does it cost?”

“I dunno. Gamzee and Tavros won two tickets with a snow sculpting contest.”

“Well, I’ll think about it.”

Kankri got home hours later. By then it was supper time so they all sat at the table and ate chicken.

“So, how was the school field trip Karkat?” Kankri asked. “I imagine you must have had a good time, or at least an average amusement level of time while you were there, as you do not seem particularly angry or upset about anything. Of course, you could just be good at hiding your emotions, but I wouldn’t know. I apologize if you are feeling triggered and I cannot tell, that would be even more triggering, and-”

“Dad, give him a chance to answer.” Kanaya said.

“Oh, yes. How was the trip Karkat?” Kankri asked.

“Alright.” Karkat said.

“Karkat, that’s rather triggering. Most kids would at least say what they did during the trip. And I admit that is really what I was hoping for in your answer. And while it is rather triggering of me to expect you to answer a question in a certain way, I was only hoping this because that is how most people that are at least a bit sociable respond-”

“Okay, fine!” Karkat snapped. “I found out I can’t fucking ski, Roxy brought alcohol and got people drunk off their asses, Roxy and Calliope got together, we went on a shitty hike and heard a ghost story, we went sledding, we made stupid snow sculptures, then there was a fucking blizzard and we got stuck in our cabins for the whole fucking day and all we could do was play flappy bird and eat cheetos and dried fruit and some guy got stuck outside during the snowstorm but he was okay and then today we came home. The end.”

“Well…that was interesting.” Porrim said.

“Yeah. Now I’m going to charge my phone.” Karkat put his plate in the sink and went to his room. He plugged his phone charger in and set it on his bed. Then he went on his computer and looked up some music on YouTube for the hell of it. After awhile when his phone had finished charging Sollux called.

“Hey KK.”

“Hey.”

“I found another cool thing in the woodth. Wanna thee?”

“Okay, sure.”

“Cool. Come over now.”

“Okay.” So Karkat hung up and went to Sollux’s. It was dark by the time he got there and Sollux was waiting for him by the garage.

“Hi KK.”

“So what did you find now?” Karkat asked.

“C’mon. I’ll show you.” Sollux led him into the woods, flashlight in hand. They walked a little deeper than the last time. “Here it ith.” Sollux stopped in front of a tree and shone the flashlight upwards.

There was an old tree-fort sitting in the tree. It looked like it had been abandoned for decades. It was covered in some moss and was crumbling in places. There was a rotting ladder leading up inside it. Sollux’s flashlight beam scared a few bats out of it.

“Cool, huh?” Sollux said.

“Are there any dead kids in there?” Karkat asked. Sollux laughed and shook his head.

“C’mon. Let’th go inthide.” He walked up to the ladder and started climbing.

“What? Oh, fine.” Karkat followed close behind him since he had the only light.

The ladder creaked when they climbed on it and Karkat got a few splinters in his hands. Inside the tree-fort there was a bottom floor and a top floor. The top floor was mostly destroyed and inaccessible, while the bottom floor had a couple crumbling chairs, blankets and some cutlery. Sollux sat down on a branch that was sticking through a window and grinned. 

“C’mon. Thit down.” he said. Karkat sighed and sat down on the branch.

“Do you just explore this forest looking for dead people in cars and tree-forts in your spare time?”

“Yeah, if I’m not coding.”

“Huh.” They sat in silence for awhile. Eventually Sollux’s phone went off.

“Hello?...Oh, okay.” Sollux hung up and sighed. “I’ve gotta go back home. Dad’th pithed off about thomething.”

“Oh, okay. I’m going home then too.” Karkat said, standing up. They climbed out of the tree-fort and walked out of the forest. Karkat waved bye to Sollux and went home. Everyone else was already asleep so he went to his room as quietly as possible. He sighed and lay down in bed. _Okay, now I’m back to going to school tomorrow._


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating for a few days! There's a heat wave here so I just crashed at home and had no energy so I didn't get out to the library. But I'm back today! Yay! I'll try to keep posting chapters as often as I can.

The next day at school it somehow got out that Roxy and Calliope were dating. Most people didn’t care (though there were a few heart-broken guys and one girl). But a group of populars, specifically the ones in Karkat’s homeroom, started teasing and bullying Calliope. Then Roxy punched them all. And she and Calliope both got detention. Had Gamzee been there as well, he would have punched them too and also gotten detention. Instead he found them later and punched them all and got detention  _then_ .

“Well, thothe girlth definitely detherved it.” Sollux commented.

“But now you two have detention.” Calliope said. “I’m sorry, if I’d just ignored them…”

“We both would have done that anyway.” Roxy said. “Don’t worry, I’m not upset.” She patted Calliope’s head and smiled. Gamzee nodded and grinned. Calliope smiled.

“Thanks you two.”

When Karkat got home Porrim handed him a ticket to the amusement park. He didn’t bother asking her how she got it and she didn’t tell him.

After Karkat did his homework he tried to phone Sollux. But for some reason he didn’t answer. Maybe he was asleep, or his phone battery died. Karkat just shrugged and went on his computer. He’d try calling Sollux again later.

 

Sollux climbed up into the old crumbling tree-fort. Inside, the two ghosts were waiting for him. They cheered when they saw him and ran up and hugged him.

“You came back to play with us!” the little girl cried. Sollux grinned and nodded.

“Not too long though. I have to go back home in an hour.”

“That’s fine!” the little boy said.

“But why couldn’t we play with you and your friend yesterday?”

“Yeah, and you told him we weren’t there!”

“He wouldn’t be able to thee you guyth. And he findth dead people kinda creepy.”

“We’re not creepy!”

“Yeah!”

“I know. Tho, what are we gonna play?”

“Hide and seek! We’ll hide!” Sollux nodded and covered his eyes.

“One…two…three…” he heard the two ghosts laugh and run off. He smiled as he kept counting. “Eighteen…nineteen…twenty! Ready or not, here I come!” Sollux took his hands down and looked around him. He looked under the branch sticking through the tree-fort, but he knew they weren’t there. He would look where he knew they weren’t because it made them enjoy the game even more.

“Hee-hee! He can’t find us!” the little boy whispered. Sollux grinned and slowly walked by where he was hiding. Then he jumped at him.

“Boo!” he yelled. The little boy shrieked and laughed. “I found you!”

“But now you’ve gotta find my sister!” Sollux grinned and nodded.

He spent a whole hour playing hide and seek many times with the two ghosts. They were very sweet and were fun to play with. Sollux really enjoyed playing with them because it made him feel like a kid again. He hadn’t felt like that since he’d moved out here. When he played with Aradia, he felt like a kid. Probably because they’d known each other since they were kids. Sollux smiled when he thought of her. He still missed her a lot.

“Okay you two, I have to go home now.” Sollux said. The two ghosts whined and complained.

“Play a little longer!”

“Yeah! Just a bit more!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!” they screeched. Sollux backed away but the little boy flew in front of the ladder down, blocking him.

“We want you to play with us forever!” the little girl said.

“And never leave us!” Sollux sighed.

“I can’t. And if you’re going to be like thith I won’t come back.”

“No! We won’t let you leave!” Their teeth grew into sharp fangs and their nails grew into claws. They hissed and circled Sollux, beginning to chant. Sollux knew what they were doing, he’d seen it before with Aradia. He pulled the charm she’d given him out from under his shirt and held it up. He turned it in his hand and the two ghosts screamed and clutched their chests.

“Let me leave.” Sollux said.

“NEVER!” they howled. Sollux sighed and turned the charm around. They screamed and collapsed to the floor. “Stop!” they screamed. “It hurts! Please!” Sollux bit his lip and shook his head. They screamed and erupted into dark red flames. The flames burned only them and soon they disappeared.

Sollux sighed and tucked the charm back under his shirt. He climbed down from the tree-fort and walked back home. His dad was there to greet him when he got back with supper.

“Anything interesting happen?” he asked. Sollux smiled and shook his head.

“Nope. It wath pretty boring.”


	17. Chapter 17

“-Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh!” Sollux clapped and Calliope bowed politely and Gamzee just grinned. Roxy cheered and clapped loudly. Yeah, they were spending Christmas day at Calliope’s and she and Gamzee were singing carols.

While Calliope and Gamzee looked for another song to sing Roxy got up to use the bathroom. Karkat stared at the huge tree in the corner of the room. It was decorated like one of those freaking fancy trees you see on TV or at a store. There was a present to Calliope from Gamzee under the tree and one to Calliope from Roxy and another from her grandfather. It was easy to see it was a book from how it was wrapped. Calliope was going to open it later.

Karkat hadn’t really gotten anyone anything except some fabric for Kanaya because he actually knew what she would want. She had said her present to him would be given to him later that day. He didn’t really care. He usually just got a stupid Christmas sweater.

“Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas mah crazy friends!” Roxy yelled. Karkat realized her voice came down from the chimney. Roxy landed in the fireplace (which had no fire in it at that time) grinning and wearing a Santa suit. “Calliope, your grandpa is the BEST!” She stepped out and pulled a big bag with her. “Okay, I’ve got all your presents! Come get ‘em!” Roxy tossed some presents out of her bag. Karkat picked one up and stared at it.

“Roxy, there are no name tagth on thethe.” Sollux said.

“Oops! I thought I forgot something. Ha-ha. Just open them and try to figure out who they’re for.” Karkat watched Sollux open his. He pulled out a bright red dress with cloth roses a big K on the back.

“KK, I think thith ith for you.” he said.

“Yep!” Roxy said.

“What?!” Karkat exclaimed.

“You all get to be princesses for Christmas!” Roxy said. Karkat opened the package he was holding and pulled out a yellow dress with black lace at the cuffs.

“Sollux, take your shit.” Karkat said, throwing the dress at him. Sollux gave him his and Karkat realized it came with a tiara. It was made out of crab parts Roxy had super-glued together then painted red. Sollux had a tiara made out of computer parts that was painted yellow. Gamzee got a purple dress with lime green polka-dots and a tiara made out of horns and painted purple. Tavros got an orange dress decorated with brown ribbons and a tiara that was painted orange and made out of Pokémon merchandise. Calliope got a dark green dress with a border that was made of shiny cloth that was a bunch of squares of bright colours and a tiara that was a traditional princess tiara with plastic emeralds. Roxy took off her Santa costume to reveal her pink Victorian-style dress with black netting and long pink gloves. Her tiara had black cat ears on it and her dress had a black cat tail.

“Okay all of you, go put those on!” Roxy commanded.

“No! I’m not wearing this!” Karkat yelled.

“Gamzee, Sollux! Drag him to the guest room and force him into the dress!” Roxy commanded. Gamzee and Sollux instantly grabbed Karkat and dragged him off.

“No! Fuck! Stop it! Let me go! Sollux you dick! Cut it out! Gamzee put me down!” Gamzee and Sollux just laughed as they dragged Karkat into their guest room. They then proceeded to take Karkat’s shirt off and stuff the dress on him. Karkat squirmed and shouted the whole time but it did no good. Sollux made sure Karkat couldn’t get the dress off by holding him down while Gamzee and Tavros changed. Then Sollux changed while Gamzee held Karkat down. Once they were all dressed Sollux picked up Karkat and carried him back.

Calliope was in her dress and Roxy was complementing her. She laughed when Sollux and the others arrived.

“You look fabulous you guys!” she said.

“Fuck you!” Karkat snapped.

“I’ve brought hot chocolate.” Calliope’s grandfather said, coming in. He calmly put a tray of hot chocolate on the table. Apparently he didn’t care if all of them were in princess dresses.

“Hey Calliope’s grandpa!” Roxy said. “Can you take a picture of all of us on my phone?!”

“Certainly.” He took Roxy’s phone and held it up. Sollux dragged Karkat over to where they were standing.

“Put me down! You are not taking my fucking picture!”

“C’mon KK. Thmile for the camera.” Sollux started to tickle Karkat and he burst out laughing. Karkat was very ticklish.

“S-Sollux! S-stop it!” Karkat laughed and Calliope’s grandfather took a picture.

“Thanks!” Roxy said, taking the phone back. “Ha-ha-ha! Look at Karkat’s face!” Roxy held up the phone to show Karkat laughing and glaring at Sollux at the same time.

“Give me that!” Karkat yelled, reaching for the phone. Roxy held it out of his reach and laughed. “Delete that fucking picture!”

“No way! I have to send it to the person who made the dresses.”

“Who made the dresses?” Roxy grinned and tapped at her phone. After a few seconds her grin got wider.

“Kanaya says you’re fabulous Karkat.”

“Oh fuck no! Kanaya!” Roxy, Gamzee and Sollux laughed and Karkat tried to take the dress off, but he couldn’t reach the zipper.

“Calm down KK, you’re beautiful.” Sollux said, grinning. Karkat glared at him.

“Shut the hell up Sollux!”

“Okay everyone!” Roxy yelled. “It’s Christmas, so let’s get drunk!”

“No thanks.” Calliope said. Tavros shook his head and Karkat grunted no. Gamzee was okay with drinking a bit of alcohol and Sollux had one cup. In the end Roxy drank the most. She sang Christmas carols loudly and incorrectly and danced with Calliope. Gamzee picked Tavros up and danced with him and Roxy made Karkat dance with Sollux. All the while Calliope’s grandfather would come refill their drinks or bring cookies and candy. Man, he could be pretty awesome.

Porrim came to pick Karkat up at night. She drove Sollux home too. They were still in the dresses and Karkat was too tired to change. So Sollux carried him into the car and Porrim drove. When they got to Sollux’s Sollux said bye and Karkat waved sleepily. He thought Sollux poked his nose but he was too tired to remember and he just fell asleep.

 

Sollux walked inside and sat on the couch. His dad stared at him and grinned. Sollux grinned back and his dad looked back at the TV. After Sollux had decided the program was boring he got up and went to his room. He dumped his clothes on the floor and changed into pyjamas. He lay on his bed and sighed. He was pretty sure Karkat had been too tired to realize he’d kissed his nose. That had been pretty bold of him. Sollux sighed and stared at a picture of Aradia. He wasn’t really sure if he liked Karkat. He still missed Aradia and wanted her back with him. He groaned and shoved his pillow over his head. He turned on his radio to drown out his thoughts and eventually he fell asleep.


	18. Chapter 18

The next day Karkat woke up and found out he was still in the dress. He also had a headache and someone had drawn butterflies on his left shoulder in permanent marker. He groaned and hit his head against the wall, which just made his headache worse. He went and had a shower but found out he could barely wash any of the marker off. He was in the shower for two hours scrubbing his shoulder with soap until he gave up. He would have to keep trying every day until it finally came off.

Karkat put some clothes on and sat at the table. Kankri was still having breakfast and Karkat grabbed himself a bowl of cereal and sat down. Kankri instantly started talking to him.

“Karkat, I was wondering about that dress you were wearing yesterday when Porrim brought you home. I apologize if my suddenly bringing this up triggers you and please let me know if it does and I will stop discussing it instantly. Anyway, I was wondering why you were wearing the dress and if this means you are in fact gay and what were you doing with your friends? I understand it probably triggers you that I would assume things about what you do with your friends but I feel it is my duty to ask as I am acting as your guardian at this moment. Anyway, really, why were you wearing that dress? Because I-”

“Can you just not mention it?!” Karkat snapped.

“Oh, of course. I apologize for triggering you Karkat. I assure you I didn’t mean to at all. I will refrain from bringing up that subject now that I know it triggers you. If there are other subjects that trigger you that I am not aware of please let me know so that I can add them to the list I have. Otherwise I risk triggering you when trying to have a conversation with you and…”

Karkat covered his ears and looked at Porrim. He mouthed “Make him stop!” and she walked up to Kankri.

“…therefore it will be easier to have a conversation with you and the risk of triggers will drop, but unfortunately not disappear. I apologize if the fact that the risk of triggers can’t disappear triggers you and I will try to refrain from mentioning that if it does-” Porrim grabbed Kankri and kissed him. Karkat unplugged his ears and quickly ate his breakfast while Porrim was kissing Kankri so he couldn’t talk. When he finished he dumped his dishes in the sink and ran out of the house.

“Good morning Karkat.” Kanaya said. “You aren’t going to wear the dress today?”

“No! Why did you even make them?!”

“I’m the only one with your measurements.”

“That’s not what I asked!”

“I made them because Roxy asked me to. And I thought you would look good in a dress.”

“God damn it.” Karkat turned and walked down the sidewalk. He wasn’t really going anywhere, he just needed to get out of the house. After awhile Sollux phoned.

“I told you you’d look good in a dreth.”

“Shut the fuck up Sollux! Do not bring that up!” Sollux laughed and Karkat rolled his eyes.

“Do you even remember getting driven home? You were tho tired.”

“I think I fell asleep when we got to your house. Why?”

“Jutht wondering. Tho, are you doing anything today?”

“No. I’m just going for a walk. Why?”

“I’m bored. Wanna play in the thnow at my plathe?”

“Fine, sure.”

“Great. I’ll be waiting.”

“Okay.” Karkat hung up and turned around and walked to Sollux’s. He told Kanaya where he was going when he passed by his house again. She promised to tell Porrim when Kankri calmed down.

When Karkat got to Sollux’s he got a snowball thrown at him. Karkat swore loudly and chased after Sollux. Sollux laughed and ran behind the house. Eventually Karkat tackled him and they wrestled in the snow for a bit until they calmed down. Karkat lay down and took some deep breaths. He was out of breath after that. Sollux laughed and lay down next to him.

“Way to say hello Sollux.” Karkat grunted. Sollux laughed and tugged at his hair.

“I can’t be boring KK. You’d be tho dithapointed.” Karkat rolled his eyes and Sollux smirked.

“So what the fuck are we supposed to do?”

“I dunno. Build an igloo?” Karkat laughed and sat up.

“That sounds dumb, but whatever.” Sollux grinned and they stood up and got to work. The snow in Sollux’s backyard was really deep so they had plenty to make it with. Sollux did most of the work while Karkat cleared an area and helped stack the blocks of snow. The roof was the trickiest part but after a couple hours they had an igloo that Sollux guaranteed wouldn’t collapse. Karkat followed Sollux inside the igloo and sat down next to him. The igloo was big enough for both of them to sit down in, but not much else.

“Cool huh?” Sollux said, staring up at the ceiling. Karkat shrugged and tucked his hands in his coat pocket. Sollux grinned and leaned back against the wall. Luckily it didn’t break. Karkat leaned against the wall too and stared at the igloo.

“I can’t believe his piece of shit is standing.” he said. Sollux laughed and nodded.

“You can thank me for my awethome thkillth.” Karkat rolled his eyes.

“I helped too you know.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t make all the thnow blockth.”

“Whatever.” They sat in the igloo for awhile and Karkat started to get tired. He yawned and leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

_Karkat couldn’t tell where he was. Or if he was even really there or just observing a location, like through a telescope. But he could see Gamzee wrestling someone, and when he took a closer look he realized it was another Gamzee! But the other Gamzee’s eyes were a bright red and he had a crazy look in him. Gamzee had him pinned to the ground and seemed to be keeping him there effortlessly._

_Karkat looked around and saw Sollux sitting with his back to him. He walked up behind him and reached to touch his shoulder, but his hand passed through him. He could hear Sollux whispering something, but he couldn’t tell what the words were. Karkat tried to talk to him but he couldn’t open his mouth._

_He looked back at Gamzee but found that he wasn’t there anymore. Instead he found himself staring at a boy he didn’t recognise. He was crouched down and scratching at the ground. Karkat walked up to him and knelt down in front of him. But he still couldn’t see who he was. He tried to say something but he still couldn’t open his mouth._

_Then some liquid splashed on him. Karkat looked up and saw Roxy laughing at him, holding an almost empty bottle of vodka. Karkat scowled and stood up and tried to wipe the alcohol out of his hair, but it was no use. Roxy gulped down half of the vodka left and offered the rest to Karkat. He tried to talk but then he remembered he couldn’t open his mouth. So instead he shook his head. Roxy shrugged and gulped down the rest of the vodka._

_Karkat turned away from her and started walking. He wanted to find someone he could actually communicate with. And figure out where the hell he was. So he walked for a little bit until his feet started to get sore. Then he sat down and rested them._

“ _Hey KK.” Karkat turned around but Sollux wasn’t there. “KK? Hey, KK.”_

“KK!” Karkat jolted awake and opened his eyes. Sollux was shaking his shoulder. He grinned when he saw that Karkat was awake. “Man, you’re one heavy thleeper KK.” Karkat rolled his eyes and stretched out his legs.

“Whatever. What do you want?”

“It’th boring in here. Let’th go have a thnowball fight.” Karkat smirked and stood up.

“You’re on!” Karkat and Sollux ran out of the igloo and quickly grabbed some snow. Karkat made some lousy snowballs as quickly as he could and chucked them at Sollux. Of course all but one missed and that one just grazed his head. Sollux on the other hand hit Karkat with his snowballs each time he threw them. Karkat cursed and lobbed some more at him. Sollux just dodged and counterattacked. They went on for a couple hours.

“Gotcha KK!” Sollux yelled as he shoved snow down Karkat’s shirt.

“Fuck!” Karkat grabbed some snow and shoved it in Sollux’s face. Sollux laughed and Karkat jumped on him. They wrestled around and kept dumping snow down each other’s shirts and coats until they were both shivering and laughing as they lay in the snow.

“Tie?” Sollux said. Karkat nodded and stood up. They walked inside Sollux’s house and took off their coats and boots when they got inside. Sollux’s dad smiled when he saw them.

“Hi Thollux. Ith thith “KK”?” he asked. Karkat groaned and Sollux grinned and nodded. “Nithe to meet you. You two should go get changed. You’re both thoaked.” Sollux nodded and led Karkat to his room. He grabbed some clothes and handed them to him.

“Here. Thee if thethe fit.” Karkat tried them on and found out they didn’t fit at all. He had to roll up the pant legs and put a belt on. The shirt almost reached down to his knees and even though it was a t-shirt the sleeves almost reached his elbows. Sollux laughed when he saw Karkat. Karkat flipped him off in response.

“Fuck you. Cut it out.” Sollux grinned.

“You look great KK.” He chuckled again and Karkat punched his arm. Sollux swung back and Karkat actually managed to duck. Pretty soon they were wrestling on the floor again. Of course, Sollux was stronger than Karkat so he pinned him down pretty easily.

“Dammit. Get off me you asshole.” Karkat grumbled. Sollux just laughed.

“Are you thtaying over for dinner?” Sollux’s dad asked, standing in the doorway. Karkat tried to get up but Sollux wouldn’t get off him. He growled and kicked Sollux in the stomach. Sollux got off him and Karkat sat up.

“I dunno. Sure.” Sollux’s dad nodded and walked off.

“Wanna play thome videogameth?” Sollux asked. Karkat nodded and sat next to Sollux.

“I bet you I’ll kick your ass.” he said. Sollux smirked.

“Twenty buckth thayth I kick yourth.”

“Deal.”


	19. Chapter 19

“Fuck!” Karkat yelled.

“That’th twenty buckth KK.” Sollux said, smirking. Karkat growled and handed him the money. Sollux grinned and put it in his pocket. “Thankth.”

“Fuck you.” Sollux smirked and poked his nose.

“Tho gay.” Karkat rolled his eyes and lay down on the floor. “Wanna play again?”

“No. I don’t.” Sollux shrugged and lay next to him. They spent awhile just staring at the ceiling in boring silence until Sollux’s dad called them for dinner.

Dinner was fish cooked with onions and mushrooms with some seasonings on it. It was pretty tasty. Sollux’s dad talked a bit during dinner about adult stuff Karkat didn’t really care about. He also asked Karkat about how long he’d lived in Alternia and what he thought of it and some other questions. Karkat answered them all politely and when he finished eating Sollux’s dad asked him if he was staying over.

“Sure. Why not?” Karkat didn’t bother to call Porrim and Kankri because they probably assumed he was going to stay over anyway. Karkat and Sollux spent the rest of the evening watching TV until Sollux’s dad made them go to bed. Sollux gave Karkat a spare sleeping bag to sleep in, which he put on the floor. Karkat moved the sleeping bag away from Sollux’s bed. He didn’t feel like a rerun of when Sollux had stayed over at his house.

“G’night KK.”

“G’night.” Karkat grunted.

 

“Hey you two!” Karkat jumped awake and sat up. Sollux was awake too and opened the bedroom window.

“What the hell do you guyth want at thith fucking hour?!” Karkat got up and looked out the window. Roxy, Calliope, Gamzee and Tavros were all standing outside.

“There’s a woods right near your house!” Roxy said.

“Yeah, no shit. I can thee it.”

“So we gotta go have a party in there at midnight! C’mon!”

“You want to go into the foretht at night?! That’th dangrouthe!”

“We’re going whether or not you come!”

“Fine!” Sollux opened the window and jumped out. Karkat followed behind him, then realized he didn’t have any shoes or socks on. Sollux did have socks on though.

“How the fuck can I walk through snow barefoot?!” Karkat complained.

“How about I jutht carry you?” Sollux offered.

“No, I’ll just get my fucking shoes.” Karkat turned to get them but Sollux grabbed him and put him on his shoulders. “Sollux! Jesus fuck! Put me down!” Sollux laughed and shook his head.

“Come on you guys!” Roxy called. Sollux ran up to the others and they followed them into the forest. Calliope and Tavros had brought flashlights while Gamzee just had some glow-in-the-dark nail polish on, which didn’t really do anything except make his fingernails look creepy.

“Here’s a good spot!” Roxy called. She ran ahead and they all ran with her. She led them to a clearing with some logs lying on the ground. Roxy immediately got to work on rolling the logs so that they all formed a circle. Gamzee helped out and Sollux put Karkat down and helped as well. Karkat just stood and watched with Calliope and Tavros.

Eventually they’d made a wide circle/something-agon with the logs. Roxy then grabbed a bunch of sticks and piled them into the middle. Karkat sat down and watched her light a campfire. She laughed and danced around it. Gamzee picked Tavros up and put him down on one of the logs. He sat next to him and Sollux sat next to Karkat.

“Why are you all sitting down?!” Roxy exclaimed. “This is a party! Get up and dance and get drunk!” Roxy held up some bottles of alcohol. Of course she brought those. Roxy also brought a CD player and started playing a hip-hop CD loudly and singing at the top of her lungs. She danced with Calliope and Gamzee started dancing too and singing loudly. Sollux got Karkat up and dancing and Gamzee picked Tavros up and got him to dance. Roxy got drunk, Gamzee had a bit of alcohol and overall they had an obnoxiously loud party in the middle of the forest. God, they were weird as shit.

“Hey!” They all stopped to see some men with flashlights approaching. Roxy shut off the music and doused the campfire.

“Run for it!” she yelled. Karkat was carried by Sollux and they all tore through the forest. Karkat could hear Roxy laughing and the men yelling at them. He had no idea whether they were even going the right direction. All he could see was what was behind Sollux, who had him slung over his shoulder.

Eventually they came to Sollux’s house and they all ran inside the garage. Roxy collapsed on the ground, still laughing. Gamzee put Tavros down and Karkat realized he hadn’t grabbed his wheelchair. Sollux put him down and stretched. Calliope sat down next to Roxy and tried to catch her breath. Karkat just stood there.

“That was fucking insane.” he commented. Roxy laughed and nodded.

“Why did those men come after us?” Calliope asked.

“You’re not allowed to light fireth in that foretht.” Sollux said. “But it theemed fine there. We didn’t thtart a foretht fire.”

“Yeah! Think positive!” Roxy said, giving Sollux a thumbs-up. “And we had so much fun!”

“But what about my wheelchair?” Tavros asked.

“I’ll think up something to tell your parents Tavbro.” Gamzee said, patting his head. “C’mon, I’ll take you home now.”

“Yeah, you two should go home too.” Sollux said to Roxy and Calliope. They nodded and stood up. Karkat watched them pile into a car he assumed was Roxy’s (she was driving it). Roxy blared the radio and drove off. Karkat rolled his eyes and they walked back into Sollux’s house. Sollux’s dad somehow had slept through the whole thing. Karkat could hear him snoring in his room. Sollux grinned and they snuck back into his room. Karkat lay back in the sleeping bag and Sollux lay on his bed.

“Was there even a point to that?!” Karkat grumbled.

“It wathn’t boring.” Sollux pointed out. Karkat shrugged and closed his eyes. “G’night KK.”

“G’night.”


	20. Chapter 20

A few days later it was New Year’s Eve. Roxy had invited everyone to her house for a party. On the invitations she wrote in clear, bold words  **ANYONE WHO DECLINES WILL BE DRAGGED THERE BY THEIR DICK!** Needless to say, no one declined.

“Awesome! Everyone’s here!” Roxy exclaimed.

“Like you gave us a choice.” Karkat grumbled. Roxy ignored him and led them inside.

“We’re having the party in my room! It’s big enough for all of us to have a blast!” she said. “And I’ve got a large stash of alcohol up there! And it’s New Year’s Eve, so you all have to get at least a little drunk!”

“Fuck no.” Karkat snapped. Roxy kicked him in the shins and kept walking.

“Here we are!” She led them into her bedroom. There were a bunch of white stuffed cats in pink wizard costumes. There was also a whole bookshelf full of vodka bottles, all sorted by brand. And her closet was full of weird blue cubes with mutant black kittens in them. Though they obviously weren’t real.

“That’s a miraculous amount of motherfucking alcohol.” Gamzee commented.

“Thanks! Now c’mon, let’s get some music started!” Roxy started playing music and her older sister Rose came up with snacks for them.

“Behave yourselves.” she said before leaving the room.

“She actth like a mom.” Sollux said. Roxy giggled and nodded.

“Yep, she’s just like that. C’mon! Let’s all paaarty!”

Roxy got everyone dancing and eating snacks and playing games. Soon they were all in a pillow fight. Karkat was the shortest and therefore the easiest target and everyone eventually ganged up on him. No one really went after Tavros much since that would be unfair. Instead Gamzee was holding him up with one arm and his other hand was hitting people with his pillow. Thanks to Gamzee Tavros was able to hit people with his pillow easier. By the end of the pillow fight everyone was lying on the floor, exhausted.

“Who won?” Roxy asked breathlessly.

“I think it was a tie.” Gamzee said.

“Cool. Now let’s get drunk!” Roxy got up and grabbed some alcohol off the bookshelf. “We got half an hour ‘till midnight! Let’s all get our asses drunk!”

Karkat didn’t remember much of what happened after that.

 

When Karkat woke up he had a pounding headache and a disgusting taste leftover in his mouth. He groaned and opened his eyes and winced at the bright light. He slowly sat up and looked around him. Sollux was lying next to him and their legs were tangled together. And Karkat noticed Sollux’s shirt was pulled up. What the hell happened?! Gamzee was asleep holding Tavros and Roxy and Calliope were lying together in a corner. They were also starting to wake up.

“Gays…welcome to Hangover City.” Roxy said. “We are booking a night at a motel…except it’s morning right now…but who gives a fuck?”

“Good-morning sunshines.” Rose said, walking in. Kanaya was standing next to her. “If you’re going to puke, the bathroom’s down the hall, third door on your left.”

“What’s Kanaya doing here?” Karkat asked blearily.

“I’m seeing Rose.” Kanaya answered.

“Huh? Why?” Karkat heard Sollux choke and Roxy face-palmed.

“Karkat.” she said, putting an arm around his shoulders. “She didn’t mean sheeing as in friendsh, she meant sheeing each other like GIRLFRIENDSH!”

“Wait, what?!” he exclaimed.

“Don’t shout KK. I have a headache.” Sollux grumbled.

“Mother will pick us up after lunch.” Kanaya said. She and Rose walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them. Karkat groaned and lay back down.

“I don’t feel like moving for years.” he grumbled.

“Thame here.” Sollux agreed.

“Okay, I gotta puke. Be right back.” Roxy said, getting up. Calliope helped her get out the door and down the hallway. After a few seconds Gamzee stood up.

“Me too.” he said. He stumbled out of the room and down the hallway. Tavros just lay on the ground, rubbing the sides of his head. Karkat sighed and closed his eyes. He never wanted to get drunk again.

 

Karkat woke up sometime later. Everyone else was lying on the floor again, all asleep. Karkat stood up carefully and stretched. He winced as his headache flared and smacked his forehead. That only made it worse. He slumped onto a couch and stared at the ceiling. Slowly everyone woke up and they all stumbled downstairs. Rose and Kanaya were sitting at the table eating chicken-caesar wraps.

“Hello.” Rose said. “Would you all like some lunch now?”

“Huh?” Roxy asked.

“It’s past noon.” Kanaya said, pointing at the clock. It read 12:45. They all grumbled and grabbed some sandwiches Rose and Kanaya had made them. They clearly knew they’d be too tired to make themselves even some toast, let alone a whole sandwich.

“So, did anyone think up some good New Year’s resolutions?” Calliope asked.

“Yeah.” Sollux said.

“What did you think up?” Calliope asked.

“I’m not thaying. It’th better not to thay to make thure it cometh true.”

“I got a motherfucking resolution too.” Gamzee said.

“Um…same here.” Tavros said.

“Eh…I can’t think of one.” Roxy grumbled.

“I got one. How about you Karkat?” Calliope said. Karkat shrugged and nibbled his sandwich.

“There’s nothing I really want to achieve.”

“How about you resolve to get a date with Sollux?” Roxy said. Karkat choked on his sandwich and Roxy laughed. Karkat glared at her and kicked her leg. “You so want that Karkat.”

“Fuck you.”

Then the doorbell rang. Rose got up and answered it. She talked to the person for a second before turning to them.

“Kanaya, Karkat! Porrim’s here.” Porrim peeked in and waved. Karkat got up and trudged to the door. Kanaya gave Rose a quick kiss before following Porrim to the car. Karkat waved to his friends, then followed them down the stairs and into Porrim’s car. He sat down and pulled his seatbelt on and Porrim drove off. He stared out the window and tried to ignore his headache.

When they got home Karkat stumbled inside. Kankri was instantly upon him with one of his lectures.

“Welcome home Karkat. How was the party? I hope you didn’t engage in any triggering behaviour while you were there. If you did you should know that I find that extremely triggering. But if you didn’t I apologize for triggering you by suggesting it. And why are your eyes red? Do you have a hangover? Karkat did you get drunk?! That’s extremely triggering! While at your age it might seem cool to drink you should know that it isn’t a good idea to drink no matter what age you are and you can’t actually drink until you’re an adult and you’re not you’re only a teenager so that makes it even more triggering-”

“Shut the fuck up! I have a headache!” Karkat snapped, covering his ears. Kankri kept talking and Karkat stormed off into his room, slamming the door behind him. He collapsed on his bed and covered his head with his pillow. He could faintly hear Kankri yelling and he groaned. He hated dealing with him, especially when he had a headache. Then he was pretty much intolerable. Well, more than he usually was.

“Just shut up.” Karkat muttered. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to relax. But he was all fidgety and it took him a few hours to fall asleep. And Kankri hadn’t shut up for the whole time.


	21. Chapter 21

Valentines Day. The day people were supposed to give chocolate to their friends and girl/boyfriends. Karkat never really liked Valentine’s Day much. He always got the same stuff from his friends and a scarf from Kanaya. Overall, he found it pretty boring.

“I got everyone some chocolate.” Calliope said, holding up some little boxes. “I made them all myself!” She gave one to each of them. But Roxy’s was larger and shaped like a heart. She grinned and gave Calliope a store-bought large chocolate heart.

“I was gonna make you one, but none of my attempts seemed edible.” she said, laughing. Karkat opened his box to find a small chocolate in the shape of a crab inside. Tavros got a bull and Gamzee got a sea-goat.

“They’re um, supposed to represent your zodiacs.” Calliope explained.

“These are motherfucking miracles Calli.” Gamzee said, patting her head. Calliope smiled and nodded.

“Thanks.”

“Uh, I got you all chocolates too.” Tavros said. He handed them all store-bought chocolates. Same as every year. Though Karkat noticed Tavros had subtly given Gamzee the largest. But Karkat wasn’t sure if Gamzee noticed. He wished Tavros luck.

“I got you all honeycomb.” Sollux said. “Becauthe chocolate ith overrated.” He handed them all clumps of honeycomb.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?” Karkat asked, holding it up.

“You eat it.” Sollux said. He picked up his own and bit into it. “Thee?” Gamzee grinned and shoved the whole thing into his mouth. Honey dripped down his chin and he seemed to have a hard time chewing. But he grinned the whole time. Karkat sighed and took a bite out of the honeycomb. It was obviously sweet, but Karkat found that he didn’t hate the taste. He ate his, as did Roxy, Calliope and Tavros. Then they all started eating the chocolates they’d gotten each other.

“Didn’t you get us chocolates Karkat?” Roxy asked. Karkat shook his head.

“Nah. I never bother to.” Roxy pouted.

“You’re so boooring!” Karkat rolled his eyes and finished off his chocolate.

“I just don’t find Valentines Day very interesting.” he said.

“It’s totally interesting!” Roxy argued. “Valentines Day gives people a chance to confess their feelings to the person they’ve been in love with for who-knows-how-long! It’s all totally romantic and wonderful and you should have gotten us chocolates!”

“You just tried to guilt-trip me at the end, didn’t you?” Karkat said. Roxy grinned and licked chocolate off her lips.

“Hi Sollux.” Karkat looked over and saw the popular girl who’d asked Sollux out months ago standing next to him. She was wearing really revealing pink clothes and had pink heart stickers on her arms. She handed Sollux a large pink heart-shaped box with a hot-pink ribbon on it. “Happy Valentines Day.” Sollux took the box and stood up. He walked over to the trash can and dropped it inside, then walked back and sat down. The girl looked stunned and ran off to her friends.

“That was harsh.” Karkat said. “Good job.” He high-fived Sollux who grinned and nodded.

“Thankth.”

“U-um, Karkat?” Karkat turned around to find a girl he didn’t recognise standing next to him.

“Yeah, what?” he asked. The girl hesitated for a few seconds. Then she handed him a red box and ran out of the classroom. Karkat stared in the direction she’d gone, trying to process what had happened. “What just happened?!”

“A girl jutht gave you chocolate.” Sollux said.

“Oh no shit! I mean why the hell did she?”

“She clearly liketh you.” Karkat looked down at the chocolates, then back at the classroom door.

“Well? Open the box already!” Roxy said. Karkat put the box on his desk and opened it. There was a note on top of a medium-sized chocolate heart. Karkat picked up the note and looked at it.

_To Karkat. Happy Valentines Day._

“She wrote her phone number on the back of the note.” Sollux said, pointing at the other side of the note. Karkat turned it over and saw that she had. He stared at it, trying to process what he was seeing. A girl just gave him chocolate on Valentines Day! And he didn’t even know her!

“Awesome Karkat!” Roxy said, clapping his shoulder. “You’ve got a girlfriend!”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Not yet.”

Karkat walked home with Sollux again, like always. He kept fingering the note from the girl, which he was keeping in his pants pocket.

“What am I supposed to do?” he asked. “A girl just gave me chocolate!”

“Well…are you thtraight or gay?” Sollux asked.

“I have no fucking clue!” Karkat exclaimed.

“Chill KK.”

“I don’t even know who she is!” Sollux pulled out his phone and handed it to Karkat. On the screen was a photograph of the girl and her profile.

“I looked it up during lunch becauthe I knew you were gonna athk.”

“Where did you get this?” Karkat asked. “It mentions how many times she’s lost playing Mario Kart against her sister.”

“…Thomewhere.” Sollux said mischievously. Karkat rolled his eyes and decided not to bother questioning him. He glanced over the girl’s profile as he walked. Eventually they got to his house. He waved to Sollux and walked inside. Kanaya was watching TV and smiled when he walked inside.

“Welcome home. Did you get any chocolates?” she asked. Karkat could see the heart-shaped chocolate box sitting next to her. He suspected it was from Rose.

“Uh, yeah.” Karkat sat down and stared at the TV. Kanaya handed him a bright red scarf she’d knitted. Karkat put it next to him and focused on the TV. After a few seconds he realized he was rubbing the note again.

“What’s bothering you?” Kanaya asked. Karkat glanced at her and wondered if he should just say he was fine. “And if you don’t tell me I’ll get dad and he’ll make you.” Karkat sighed.

“No need for drama Kanaya.” he grumbled. Kanaya looked at him expectantly. “Okay, some girl I don’t know just gave me Valentines Day chocolate and she wrote her phone number on the back of the note.” Karkat held up the note to Kanaya. “And I have no clue what to do.”

“Well…are you gay or straight?”

“I don’t know! Jesus, is everyone gonna ask me that?!”

“Sorry. Why don’t you try hanging out with her to get to know her? Phone her and ask to meet her somewhere tomorrow. It’s conveniently Friday today.”

“…Yeah okay. I’ll do that.” Karkat got up and walked into his room. He sat on his bed and pulled out his phone. He held up her phone number and dialled it carefully. He listened to the phone ring for a few seconds before it was answered.

“Um, hello?”

“Hi Abby? It’s Karkat-”

“O-oh! Um, h-hi! Uh…um…”

“Hi. Listen, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tomorrow.”

“…Really?”

“Uh, yeah. Because I don’t really know you so I might as well get to know you, right?”

“Y-yeah! Um, where do you want to meet?”

“How about the park?”

“Yeah. The um, park sounds good.”

“Okay. Can I meet you at 9 o’clock?”

“S-sure! Um, in the morning right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Um, see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, see you.” Karkat hung up and sighed. Well, that had gone alright. Now he just had to worry about tomorrow.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can thank my sister for thinking up what happens in this chapter :) And as for the poem at the bottom, she said it reminded her of it so I added it. Whee! :3

“Alright, I have prepared an outfit for you.” Kanaya said, holding up some clothes. Karkat glanced at them.

“Are you sure they’re something I’d normally wear?” he asked.

“Yes. Now try them on.” Karkat sighed and took them from her. He went into his room and put them on. The outfit consisted of black skinny jeans, a shiny silver belt, a tight black long-sleeve shirt tucked into his pants and a silver necklace with the cancer symbol. Karkat stared at himself in the mirror in Kanaya’s room. “Well? Do you like it?”

“…Sure.” He didn’t hate it and he was cool with wearing it once or twice. Kanaya handed him some black shoes that, unlike his sneakers, weren’t wearing away at nearly every corner.

“Put these on.” she instructed. Karkat sighed but did as she asked. Then he put his phone in the pants pocket and walked outside. “Good luck.” Kanaya said, waving. Karkat nodded and walked in the direction of the park.

It was a rather cool morning and Karkat walked quickly to keep warm. There were crows perched on a telephone wire on nearly every street Karkat walked on. He found it a little creepy, like they were some sort of omen. He rolled his eyes and kept walking. He wasn’t so weird that he’d think something like that.

When Karkat got to the park he looked around but realized Abby wasn’t there yet. In fact, he was the only person at the park. So he sat on a bench and waited. A few crows were perched in a nearby tree and they stared at him. So Karkat stared back. Eventually all of them but one flew off and Karkat glanced around. Abby still wasn’t there.

“Karkat!” Karkat sat up and looked across the street. Abby was waving to him. She had her mouse-brown hair hanging loosely past her shoulders. She was wearing a pale blue dress that went down to her knees and brown flats that matched the thick belt around her waist. She smiled and ran across the street to him. Karkat got up to walk over to her. Then he noticed the car.

“Abby!” he shouted. But before he could do anything the car hit her and she went flying. He ran up to her as the car drove off. “Oh fuck. No, no, no, no, no!” Karkat bent down over her and roller her over so she was facing him. “Oh no.” Her eyes were blank. They stared back at him with no expression. He’d seen those eyes before. The eyes of his dead parents. “No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Fuck! This is all my fault! God damn it! I shouldn’t have suggested the park! I should have gone and picked you up at your house! Damn it! I’m so sorry! It’s all my fault!” Karkat kept babbling and he heard people shouting around him. He heard sirens and some people came and carried Abby away. Karkat followed them numbly.

Half an hour later he was at the police station, answering questions for an officer. He was only half conscious of what he was doing. The other half of him still felt like it was holding Abby’s dead body. When the police officer left and he was told he couldn’t go see her he sat down on a chair and stared at the ceiling.

Abby’s sister and parents came to see her. They were crying and holding each other. Karkat felt like he should cry, but he seemed to be in too much shock. Instead he watched Abby’s family with a horrible guilty feeling in his gut.

“Are you Karkat?” Abby’s sister asked. Karkat nodded and she sat next to him. “Abby told me about you. She was going to meet you at the park today.” Karkat nodded again.

“It’s all my fault.” he said. “I was the one who suggested the park. I should have said somewhere different, or maybe just picked her up at her house or…” Abby’s sister patted his shoulder and shook her head.

“You can’t blame yourself in this situation. There’s no way to change someone’s fate. And we can’t go back in time.” Karkat nodded. He stared at the door to the room Abby was in.

“…I didn’t even get to know her.” he said. “That’s why I’d wanted to meet her at the park. To get to know her. But now…” Abby’s sister put her arm around Karkat’s shoulders and he covered his face with his hands. “What have I done?” he whispered quietly enough Abby’s sister didn’t hear him. “What have I done?!”

**One crow sorrow, two crows joy. Three crows a letter, four crows a boy. Five crows silver, six crows gold. Seven crows a story, never to be told.**


	23. Chapter 23

_Karkat blinked and looked around him. He was surrounded by darkness. Where was he?_

“ _Karkat?” Karkat turned around and froze. Abby was standing behind him. He was about to run over to her but then he saw her eyes. They were blank and lifeless. The eyes of a corpse._

“ _No…” Karkat backed away and bumped into someone. He turned around and gasped. His parents stared down at him, their dead eyes unblinking. Karkat stepped back and Abby came and stood next to them. They stared at him with their cold eyes and Karkat shivered._

“ _Karkat…” they whispered. They reached out to him and Karkat took a step back. “Karkat…Karkat…Karkat…Karkat…Karkat…”_

“ _G-go away!” Karkat cried. He felt tears prickling his eyes and he tried to blink them away. “I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry I couldn’t save you! I—please just leave me alone! Please!” Abby reached forward and grabbed Karkat’s arm. His mom grabbed his left hand and his dad grabbed his right shoulder. “No…please.”_

“ _Karkat…” Their eyes seemed to draw him in, to drain him of warmth. Tears were running down his cheeks and he tried to break out of their grip._

“ _Please…leave me alone! I’m sorry! I am! So just—please leave me alone!”_

“ _Karkat…Karkat…Karkat…”_

“ _Please!”_

“Karkat!” Karkat gasped and opened his eyes. Kanaya was leaning over him, a worried expression on her face. “Karkat, you’re crying.” Karkat wiped his face with his hands and calmed his breathing. It was just a dream. “Karkat, please talk to me. Tell me what you were dreaming about.” Karkat pushed Kanaya away and pulled the covers over his head. Kanaya sighed and stood up. “I’ve left your breakfast on your bedside table. Please eat it.” Karkat didn’t say anything and Kanaya sighed. After a few seconds she walked out of his room and shut the door behind her.

It had been a week since Abby’s death. Karkat had gone to her funeral and met her friends. They all knew who he was and about Abby’s crush on him. None of them blamed him for her death. They all assured him he couldn’t have done anything to change it. But that didn’t change Karkat’s opinion. It was all his fault. He’d led her to her death.

Karkat had shut himself in his room. He hadn’t spoken to anyone and hadn’t responded to phone calls and texts from his friends. Kanaya or Porrim would bring him food but otherwise he would just lie in bed and try not to fall asleep. Whenever he slept they would appear in his dreams to torment him. He wished they would leave him alone.

Karkat peeked out from his covers at the breakfast Kanaya had left him. She’d filled a bowl with his favourite cereal and even put his favourite spoon in with it. Karkat reached over and picked the bowl up. He sat up and nibbled at the cereal. But he just didn’t feel hungry. He put the bowl back and lay down and pulled the covers over his head. He shut his eyes and breathed deeply. He muttered to himself to keep from falling asleep. But he was starting to get tired. He bit his tongue and hoped he could stay awake for as long as possible.

 

“Oh, hi Sollux.” Kanaya said.

“Hi. Can I come in?” Sollux asked. Kanaya nodded and he stepped inside. Porrim was sitting on the couch drinking coffee. She smiled to Sollux but Sollux could tell it was forced.

“Hi Sollux. How are you?” she said.

“I’m good. How’th KK?”

“He’s hardly eating. He won’t talk to me or leave his room.” Kanaya said. “And he’s getting nightmares. But he won’t say what they’re about.”

“Can I thee him?” Kanaya hesitated, then nodded.

“I’ll see if he’s up to visitors.” She led him down the hallway to Karkat’s room. Sollux had been there a few times but Karkat had always thrown a fit and not let him in his room. He’d done the same for his other friends. And he hadn’t spoken a single word to anybody.

Kanaya walked up to Karkat’s door and knocked lightly. “Karkat? Sollux is here to see you.” Sollux and Kanaya waited for him to make a sound but he was quiet. Maybe he was asleep. Kanaya opened the door and peered in. “He’s sleeping.” she said.

“Can I thtill thee him?” Sollux asked. Kanaya glanced at Karkat, then nodded.

“Just for a little bit.” Sollux nodded and walked into Karkat’s room.

He was in bed with the blankets pulled over his head. There was an untouched bowl of cereal on his beside table. Sollux crouched next to him and looked at him.

“Hi KK. It’th me.” Karkat didn’t respond and Sollux was pretty sure he couldn’t hear him. He reached over and pulled back the blankets.

Karkat was crying. His eyes were scrunched shut and tears were running down his cheeks. Sollux could tell from his breathing that he was asleep. Sollux frowned and rested his hand on Karkat’s forehead. It was hot. He was getting a fever. There was no way Sollux could let him keep doing that.

“Please…leave me alone.” Karkat mumbled. Sollux leaned in closer to hear him better. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. P-please! Just…leave me alone!” Sollux realized he seemed to be talking to Abby. Maybe his parents too. Sollux fingered his charm and stopped. He held it up and looked at it.

“Do you think it could work AA?” he whispered. He pulled the charm off and hung it around Karkat’s neck. “Pleathe talk to him. He’ll die at thith rate. Pleathe, I don’t want him to die. I really want to protect him. Pleathe.”

 

_Karkat pulled away from Abby and his parents and curled up into a ball. He covered his head with his arms and sobbed. He wished they wouldn’t talk to him. He wished he had done something, maybe things would be different. Maybe they wouldn’t be dead._

“ _Karkat?” Karkat peered through his arms and gasped. He stood up and stared around him. He was no longer surrounded by darkness. Instead he was surrounded by white as far as the eye could see. It reminded him of snow._

_Abby and his parents were standing before him. But this time they looked different. They didn’t look sad. And their eyes weren’t as creepy. They were still dead eyes, but somehow they seemed less threatening than they had at first._

“ _It’s okay Karkat.” Abby said. “I’m not upset. It’s not your fault. I should have been paying attention.” She smiled and stared at the ground. “I’m…really happy you wanted to get to know me.” She looked up at him and smiled. “But you still have a whole life ahead of you. You need to go live it, okay?”_

“ _Please Karkat.” his mom said. “You have to be strong and keep going.”_

“ _We’re always watching over you.” his dad said. “So you’re never alone.”_

“ _Please go live a full, happy life.” Abby said. “Promise you’ll do that? For me?” Karkat opened his mouth to say something but found he couldn’t utter a single word. He closed his mouth and nodded. He could feel tears streaming down his face as he did. Abby and his parents smiled. Abby reached out and hugged Karkat. “Thanks for caring about me Karkat. That’s more than I could ever hope for.” She kissed his cheek and he kissed hers. She smiled and stepped back. “Bye Karkat.”_

“ _Goodbye.” Karkat croaked. Abby and his parents smiled and waved to him._

“ _Thee you thoon KK.”_

Karkat blinked and looked around him. He was lying in bed. His cheeks were stained with tears. He looked around him but he saw no one else in the room. He stood up shakily and walked to the door. He opened the door and stepped out. He stumbled down the hall into the living room. Kanaya and Porrim were watching TV. They stood up when he came in and Kanaya hugged him.

“Sollux?” Karkat asked.

“He just left.” Kanaya said. Karkat nodded and sat on the couch. Porrim hugged him and Kanaya sat next to him. He didn’t push them away. Instead he stayed quiet and let them comfort him. When Kankri got home he saw Karkat and instantly hugged him.

“I was afraid you were going to die.” he whispered. Karkat hugged him back and felt himself start to cry. He buried his face in Kankri’s shoulder and breathed deeply.

“I’m sorry.” he said.

“It’s fine.” Kankri said. “We’re not mad.” Karkat nodded and smiled at Kankri.

“I’m okay now.”

 

Sollux sat in his room and stared at the crescent moon through his window. He rubbed the charm around his neck absent-mindedly. He smiled when he realized he was doing that. He was sure Karkat would be okay now. He held up the charm and smiled at it.

“Thankth AA. You alwayth know exactly what I need.”


	24. Chapter 24

Karkat got up and went to school the next day. It was starting to warm up so he didn’t need to wear a coat. He half-dragged his feet as he walked and he got to school a little later than usual. The bell rang just as he arrived. So he trudged up to homeroom.

To his surprise Roxy and Calliope were sitting with Gamzee, Tavros and Sollux. But they had homeroom on the other side of the building.

“What are you two doing here?” Karkat asked. His friends looked up at him in surprise and there was maybe half a second of silence. Then they all ran up and hugged him all at once. “Whoa, shit! Yeah, glad to see you too fuckers. Can you let me go now?”

“No way best friend.” Gamzee said.

“We were so worried Karkat.” Roxy said. “Don’t you dare ever do that again!”

“Okay, okay. Are you gonna let me go?”

“No.” they all said.

“Well fuck that!” Karkat yelled. He knocked them all off him and sat down at his desk. His friends all stood up and started laughing.

“KK’th back to normal.” Sollux said. Karkat rolled his eyes and his friends sat back at their desks.

“So, did I miss anything?”

“Nah. We killed off thome thtupid rumourth about you but that’th about it.” Sollux said.

“Abby’s friends talked to us once too.” Roxy said.

“They’re really nice.” Calliope said. “I’m still talking to some of them.”

“Oh.”

Then Mr. Slick walked into the classroom. He took one look at Karkat and said “Oh, the Vantas crap is back.” Karkat flipped him off and he scowled at him. Roxy claimed that he and Mr. Slick seemed to get along well. Karkat had no idea what she meant. He hardly knew him, just like every other teacher, and really they would usually just glare at each other. But Roxy still insisted they got along well. Karkat didn’t really mind Mr. Slick. Somehow he wasn’t as annoying as other teachers.

The rest of the day was like a normal school day for Karkat. The only difference was that when he had classes with Abby’s friends they would talk to him and his friends. Calliope was right, they were nice. Karkat had only spoken to them at Abby’s funeral at first and they’d all been crying. Now he could actually see what they were normally like.

During lunch, Gamzee brought up the topic of the amusement park.

“Everyone got motherfucking tickets, right?” he asked. Karkat and the others nodded. “Cool. I was all up and thinking we could go first day of spring break.”

“That sounds great!” Roxy said. “I can drive everyone there!”

“That sounds perfect.” Gamzee said.

They kept discussing it until they had planned out the route to get there and when Roxy was picking everyone up. They spent the rest of lunch listening to Sollux list off rides from a list he got off the internet.

On the walk home Sollux asked Karkat if he wanted to come over.

“Sure.” Karkat said. Though he suspected this was Sollux’s way of trying to cheer him up.

At Sollux’s Karkat got his ass kicked at videogames as usual. Then Sollux gave him some tips on coding and showed him some of his codes. Karkat still wasn’t very good at coding. Then they ate dinner. Karkat and Sollux played videogames until Porrim phoned and said it was time for Karkat to come home.

“Thee you.” Sollux said, waving. Karkat waved back and walked home. Kanaya was waiting for him when he got there.

“Welcome home. Did you have a good day at school?”

“Yeah.” Karkat knew this was Kanaya’s way of worrying over him. And sure enough she gave him a hug before going back to sewing. Karkat nodded to her and walked into his room. He lay down in bed and closed his eyes. And he knew he wouldn’t get nightmares.

 

Sollux stood in his doorway and watched Karkat walk down the sidewalk. And he watched the three ghosts following behind him. He smiled and walked back inside. He sat at his computer and worked on codes for awhile. Then he looked up the amusement park online, even though he’d already done that at lunch. He skimmed over it for anything he might have missed, but he didn’t see anything. So he turned off his computer and lay down in bed. He knew Karkat was going to be fine.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry for not updating! I suddenly got tired and crashed at home and played Minecraft. Then my aunt came to visit for a few days and I spent a bunch of energy on that. Then I was tired and stayed home again. Then it rained and for a little while the power went out. But now I'm back! Yay! :)  
> And about this chapter: once my sister and I went with our dad to some fair-thing or whatever, and there was a haunted house and yeah it was rated PG13. Don't ask me what was in it, I didn't go in. But yeah, that's where that comes from.

“Get in Karkat!” Roxy called. “Amusement park! Amusement park!”

“I’m coming! Jesus, have some fucking patience!” Karkat yelled. He stuffed his shirt on and checked to make sure he hadn’t fucked up and put it on backwards. Then he put his shoes on and ran out the door. Roxy was there in her car with Calliope, Gamzee, Tavros and Sollux. Karkat got inside and Roxy drove off.

“This is gonna be so awesome!” Roxy said.

“Everyone’s got their tickets, right?” Calliope asked. Karkat and everyone else held up their tickets.

“Great. I sure as hell ain’t turning around.” Roxy said. The drive there took longer than they had anticipated. That was because none of them had counted on there being a whole bunch of traffic from other people going to the amusement park. “We’re such idiots.” Roxy said.

“Yeah, but we’re motherfucking cool idiots.” Gamzee said, grinning. Roxy grinned at him through the mirror.

“And you know what idiots do?” she asked. “Sing!”

“Wait, what?” Karkat asked.

“One hundred bottles of beer on the wall, one hundred bottles of beer!”

“Roxy stop singing!” Karkat yelled.

“Take one down, pass it around! Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall!” Sollux and Gamzee started signing with her and eventually Calliope joined in. Karkat was stubborn and refused to and Tavros just stayed quiet and listened to them sing with a small smile on his face.

Eventually they arrived at the amusement park. Roxy, Sollux and Gamzee were still singing at the top of their lungs when Roxy parked the car. They shut up after Karkat yelled at them a lot. Roxy led them over to the entrance and handed over their entry tickets. Then they all ran over to the ticket booth and each bought a bracelet to go on all the rides.

“Let’s go on the Tilt-a-whirl first!” Roxy said, dragging them all over to the ride. They all got on, with Calliope and Roxy in one cart-thingy, Gamzee and Tavros in another and then Karkat with Sollux. Karkat gripped the bar as the ride started and hoped he wouldn’t throw up. He’d done that once when he was little and hadn’t gone on the Tilt-awhirl since. Not that he would admit that.

The ride was certainly faster than Karkat remembered. He could hear Roxy and Gamzee laughing and he was pretty sure Sollux was too. He was just yelling. Eventually Sollux covered his mouth with his hand so instead he was being mostly quiet. Mostly. When the ride stopped Karkat wobbled off and wound up puking in a garbage can. Roxy did too but she was grinning at the same time so she clearly enjoyed the ride.

“Don’t you ever make me go on that fucking hellhole again.” Karkat said. Sollux laughed and ruffled his hair.

“It’th jutht a ride KK.”

“Fuck you. Let’s go on something calmer next.”

“How about the motherfucking merry-go-round?” Gamzee suggested.

“What? That’s for kids!” Karkat said.

“That sounds great to me!” Roxy said. “C’mon!” She dragged Calliope off and Gamzee pushed Tavros on his wheelchair after her. Sollux grabbed Karkat’s arm and dragged him after them while he loudly protested.

Karkat got forced onto the merry-go-round and found it boring as shit. Roxy, Calliope, Gamzee and Tavros definitely enjoyed it. Karkat couldn’t tell what Sollux thought though. When the ride was over they all decided Sollux could pick the next ride.

“How about that?” He pointed to…a haunted house.

“Why the fuck is there a haunted house at a fucking amusement park?!” Karkat exclaimed.

“Miracles Karbro.” Gamzee said.

“C’mon, let’th go.” Sollux grabbed Karkat and dragged him over.

“Fuck, no! I don’t want to!” Karkat yelled.

“Why? You thcared?”

“No!” That was a lie. Karkat _was_ scared of haunted houses.

“Then c’mon.” They all got to the haunted house and stood in line. There was a sign saying the haunted house was rated PG13. Since when did haunted houses have ratings?

“Are there any snakes in there?” Calliope asked the woman at the desk. “Um, because if there are I can’t go in.”

“Calli’s afraid of the motherfuckers.” Gamzee explained.

“Well, yes there is a room with some snakes.” the woman said.

“Okay, I’m staying out here. You guys go have fun.”

“You can’t just wait here by yourself, that’s dangerous!” Roxy said. “I’ll stay here with you!”

“What? Are you sure?”

“Yeah! Don’t worry Calliope! I’m your knight in shiny armour!”

“You’re thcared of haunted houtheth aren’t you Roxy?” Sollux said.

“Am not!” Roxy protested. But she took a step away from the haunted house as she said that.

“You totally are.” Sollux said, smirking.

“C’mon, are we going in or not?” Gamzee said. They had to leave Tavros’s wheelchair outside because there were some narrow hallways that it wouldn’t be able to fit through. Luckily Karkat didn’t have claustrophobia. Gamzee carried Tavros into the haunted house.

“I’m gonna fucking regret this.” Karkat mumbled as he followed his friends inside.

The first room wasn’t too bad. It was just decorated to look a bit creepy. But the farther they went in, the creepier it got. People in costumes kept jumping out at Karkat and he’d scream. Tavros would sometimes scream too and Gamzee would just pat him on the head and calm him down.

“Thith ith tho fake.” Sollux complained.

“No it’s not! It’s creepy as shit!” Karkat argued. A person dressed as a zombie jumped out at him and he screamed.

“Jeez, calm down KK. It’th really not thcary.”

“F-fuck you!”

Eventually they got into the narrow hallway. Gamzee had to walk sideways since he was carrying Tavros. As they walked through a mist curled around their feet and creepy lights flashed from above them. Karkat shivered but Sollux seemed to find it boring. Gamzee seemed to be having a great time.

After the narrow hallway were some more rooms with people jumping out of them and banging on the wall or floor from underneath them. It all scared the crap out of Karkat. When they finally got out Calliope and Roxy were waiting for them. Karkat hoped he didn’t look terrified.

“So how was it?” Roxy asked.

“Lame.” Sollux said.

“Miracles.” Gamzee said.

“Scary as fuck.” Karkat said. Tavros mumbled something and Gamzee put him back in his wheelchair.

“What now?” Calliope asked.

“Something relaxing.” Karkat suggested.

“We’re at an amusement park! There’s no time to relax Karkat!” Roxy said. “C’mon, let’s all go on the bumper cars!”

“What?!”

“Yeah!” Gamzee said. Karkat was dragged with them onto the bumper cars. He was in one with Sollux and somehow he was the one driving. Roxy was driving with Calliope and Gamzee was driving with Tavros. When the ride started Roxy immediately began ramming into everyone near her. Karkat did his best to manoeuvre the shitty car.

“Fuck! This is a piece of shit!” Karkat yelled. The car just wouldn’t cooperate and just kept jamming up.

“Man, you thuck at thith KK.” Sollux said.

“Shut the fuck up!”

“Karkat! There are kids on this ride!” Roxy yelled. She rammed into him and his car skidded and hit the wall.

“Damn it!” Karkat turned the car around and rammed it into Roxy’s. “Ha! Gotcha!”

“Gamzee, what are you doing?” Calliope asked. Karkat looked over and saw that Gamzee was just spinning the car in a circle.

“Uh, Gamzee? I’m getting dizzy.” Tavros said. Gamzee stopped spinning his car and instead rammed it into Karkat’s.

“Yeah! Gang up on Karkat and Sollux!” Roxy yelled, driving at them.

“Fuck!” Karkat tried to get out of the way but the shitty car was too slow. Roxy and Gamzee rammed into their car, pushing it towards a corner. “God damn it! This is such a stupid car!” Sollux leaned over and grabbed the steering from Karkat. He manoeuvred the car and managed to knock Roxy and Calliope back so eventually they were stuck in a corner.

“It’th jutht that eathy KK.” Sollux said.

“Fuck you.” Karkat grumbled. Then the ride ended and they all got off. Karkat got some glares from some parents, probably because of his swearing. He flipped them off and followed his friends to another ride.

It was Roxy’s brilliant idea to go on a rollercoaster. She dragged everyone on and got them to sit down. Karkat was (of course) sitting with Sollux while Roxy was with Calliope and Gamzee was with Tavros. You know, the usual.

Karkat soon found out rollercoasters scared the crap out of him.

“Aah! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he yelled.

“Chill KK.” Sollux said.

“Fuck you!”

“This is awesome!” Roxy yelled. She had her arms up in the air and was laughing. Calliope was doing the same and Sollux and Gamzee lifted their arms up too.

“Honk!” Gamzee yelled. Tavros shyly raised his arms while Karkat stubbornly kept his down.

When the ride ended Karkat had to puke again. He then requested they take a different ride.

“Let’s go on the Himalaya!” Roxy decided. Karkat complained because that was pretty much a rollercoaster that stayed on the ground and just went in a circle while music blasted loudly from speakers. “That’s why it’s so much fun!” Roxy argued. And so Karkat was dragged onto the ride. They all sat in their usual groups and the ride started up.

First it went forward for awhile. Then after that it went backwards. Then it went forwards again. And then backwards again. Karkat was really dizzy when he got off. Roxy was laughing and shouting about how fun that was while Calliope kept her from falling over. Gamzee was talking about miracles as he helped Tavros back into his wheelchair.

“Can we please take a fucking break now?” Karkat said.

“Sure.” Roxy said. “Let’s go get something to eat.”

There were lots of food stands with a variety of options. Calliope got some Ukrainian food while Roxy got spaghetti with meatballs. Gamzee and Tavros got pizza and Karkat got a cheeseburger. Sollux got ice-cream. They all sat at a table and ate their food. Karkat was really surprised at how much time they blew just sitting around and talking. By the time they got up to go on another ride it was almost time for the park to close.

“Last of all, we have to go on the Ferris wheel!” Roxy said. “I’ve never been on it and I’m totally looking forward to it!”

“Cool.” Sollux said. “Let’th go.” Karkat didn’t want to because he had a fear of heights, but Sollux dragged him over and got him into a compartment with him. The Ferris wheel lifted their compartment up and Karkat clutched the seat and wondered why he couldn’t stop looking out the window.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Get me off this thing!” he said.

“Calm down KK.” Sollux said. Karkat ignored him and kept talking. “At leatht you’re not the only one freaking out.” Sollux pointed at Roxy and Calliope’s compartment.

“This was a terrible idea! Oh shit, shit, shit!” Roxy yelled. Karkat smirked and watched Calliope try to calm her down. He was glad he wasn’t the only person scared shitless.

 

Gamzee was having a great time! He really enjoyed the view from the Ferris wheel. He could see the whole park. And since it was getting dark it was all lit up. It looked like a motherfucking miracle.

“This is so cool.” Gamzee said. Tavros nodded and stared out the window. Gamzee grinned and patted his head. “You having a motherfucking good time Tavbro?”

“Yeah.” Tavros said, nodding. Gamzee grinned and stared back out at the park. “Uh…Gamzee?”

“Yeah?” Gamzee looked down at Tavros and noticed he was blushing. “What’s up Tavbro?”

“Um…I—uh…” Gamzee grinned. He could totally tell what Tavros was trying to say. So he leaned down and kissed him. Tavros gasped and jumped and Gamzee grinned. Man, he was so cute. Gamzee pulled Tavros into a hug.

“Love ya too Tavbro.” he said. Tavros stuttered a bit before he hugged Gamzee back and buried his face in his chest.

“…Thanks Gamzee.”

 

When Karkat finally got off the ride he sighed with relief. Sollux just mumbled something that was probably annoying so Karkat flipped him off. Sollux laughed and patted Karkat’s shoulder. When Roxy got off she sighed loudly and hugged a nearby pole.

“It’s so great to be on the ground again!” she said. Calliope smiled and patted her head. Then Gamzee and Tavros got off. Gamzee carried Tavros over to his wheelchair. “Why’s Tavros blushing?” Roxy asked with a grin. Tavros blushed harder and Gamzee patted his head. Roxy’s grin got wider. “Oooh! Yes, yes, yes! Finally! It took you two forever!”

“Miracles aren’t rushed.” Gamzee said, grinning.

“Now we just have to wait for Karkat and Sollux!” Roxy said. Karkat groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Cut it out.” he muttered.

The park was just about to close so Roxy drove everyone home. They were all too tired to sing so the ride was rather quiet. Karkat was so tired he leaned back and closed his eyes. He fell asleep at some point and was vaguely aware of Porrim carrying him inside his room and tucking him in bed.  _That was probably one of the craziest days of my life,_ he thought to himself before falling completely asleep.


	26. Chapter 26

When Karkat woke up he was only half surprised to find himself in his room. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was 11:57. He sighed and dragged himself out of his room and to the table. Porrim was having her lunch and she smiled at Karkat.

“Sollux called earlier.” she said. “He was wondering if you wanted to spend the rest of spring break at his place.”

“Oh.” Karkat grunted. He grabbed himself a bowl of cereal and sat down.

“I recommend you go because Kankri gets spring break off and once he sees you’re up he’ll start ranting to you about _how did you behave yesterday?_ and stuff like that.” Porrim said. Karkat nodded and finished off his cereal.

“I’ll just go now.” he said. He went to his room and got dressed. He didn’t bother to shower because he didn’t smell that bad and Sollux probably wouldn’t care anyway. Then Porrim said he wasn’t allowed to leave the house until he showered. So he had no choice but to go shower.

“Call if there’s a problem.” Porrim said. “Be polite since you’re their guest. Don’t forget your toothbrush, and check to see if you packed enough underwear. And if you miss us and want to come home just call us, okay?”

“Jesus, I’m not a kid anymore!” Karkat exclaimed.

“I know, I’m just doing what any parent would do.” Karkat rolled his eyes and walked out of the house. “I’ll call you tonight to check up on you!”

“Fuck, please don’t!”

The walk to Sollux’s house was quick as usual. When Karkat got there he was greeted by Sollux’s dad.

“Thollux ith in hith room. You remember where that ith, right?” he said. Karkat nodded and walked down the hall. He knocked on Sollux’s door and opened it.

“Hey Sollux.” he said. He stopped when he saw him. Sollux was getting dressed or something and didn’t have his shirt on. Karkat shut the door and felt his face go warm. Well that was awkward. He heard Sollux get up and he opened the door. And he still didn’t have his fucking shirt on. Sollux grinned at Karkat.

“KK, you’re blushing.” he said. Karkat swore and wiped his face with his hands.

“No I’m not.” he grumbled.

“You tho are. Am I turning you on?”

“No. Jesus, put a fucking shirt on!” Sollux shrugged and picked up his shirt. He put it on and Karkat stepped into his room. He dropped his bag on the floor and sat down. Sollux’s room was always cleaner than Karkat’s.

“Tho, want to play thome videogameth?” Sollux asked.

“Sure.” Karkat grabbed a controller and sat next to Sollux.

“Wanna bet on who will win?” Sollux asked.

“No.” Karkat had pretty much accepted the fact that he wasn’t going to beat Sollux.

“You’re tho boring.”

Sollux of course beat Karkat every time. And Karkat flipped out every time, as usual. Eventually Sollux agreed to watching TV. So they went and sat in the living room and watched TV for a few hours. Then it was supper time. Sollux’s dad had cooked them lasagna. It was really tasty. After supper Karkat and Sollux sat down and watched more TV. Then Karkat’s phone went off. He sighed and answered it.

“Hi.”

“Hello Karkat, it’s Kankri-”

“Why the fuck are you phoning me?!”

“Karkat, that’s very triggering of you. I would much prefer it if you do not speak to me in such a tone. And I am calling you to check up on you. Porrim said she was going to be calling you but I offered to instead. I hope that doesn’t trigger you Karkat, and if it does I do apologize. Oh, and I’m also calling to tell you it was very triggering of you to leave without telling me. I would appreciate it if you let me know when you’re going to stay over at a friend’s house from now on. It would certainly help avoid any triggering conversations between us in the future. I hope you understand and I apologize if this conversation is triggering you, which I’m sure it is. Please tell me if you have been triggered and I will attempt to refrain from triggering you so much in the future.”

“Is that all? Can I hang up now?” Karkat asked.

“Karkat! That’s extremely triggering! You didn’t even answer my question! And I’ll have you know that what you said was very rude and would trigger anyone, not just me. I was hoping you would have stopped being so rude and triggering by now. I am very disappointed in you Karkat. I wish you would behave better. It’s getting extremely triggering and I-”

“Shut the fuck up. Goodbye.” Karkat hung up and put his phone away. A few seconds later his phone rang again. He didn’t bother to pick it up. He knew Kankri would leave him a long-as-fuck voicemail, but he didn’t give a shit at that moment.

Karkat and Sollux watched TV for a couple more hours. Then Sollux’s dad told them it was time for them to go to bed. Sollux got Karkat a sleeping bag from the closet and put it on the floor for him. Karkat hadn’t brought a pillow so he grabbed one from the couch. He moved the sleeping bag away from Sollux’s bed and lay down in it. He closed his eyes and relaxed but it still took him awhile to fall asleep.

 

Sollux couldn’t sleep for awhile. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was already past midnight. He glanced at Karkat and grinned. He was already asleep. Sollux reached over and poked his nose. Karkat flinched and rubbed his nose. He turned over so his back was to Sollux and kept breathing peacefully. Sollux grinned and lay back down. He reached into a drawer and pulled out his photograph of Aradia from the very back. He stared at it and sighed.

“Thtill mith you AA.” he muttered. He stared at the photograph for a few seconds longer. Then he sighed and tucked it away in the drawer. He lay back down and stared at Karkat. The three ghosts were still around him, they were just in the shadows, where Sollux couldn’t see them. He smiled and closed his eyes and fell asleep.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up: from tomorrow until the seventh of August I won't be updating because I'll be busy visiting some family members and doing awesome crap. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Spring break went by pretty fast for Karkat. All he and Sollux really did was play videogames, watch movies, watch TV, eat and sleep. They also hung out with their friends and Roxy even got them all tickets to a concert. Karkat thought the music at the concert was shit, but Roxy and Calliope seemed to enjoy it. Gamzee just seemed to have a good time no matter what and Tavros seemed a bit nervous because of the huge crowd. And Sollux was just…himself. Karkat couldn’t tell if he hated the concert or not.

When school started again Roxy got even more serious about their drama project.

“It’s almost the end of the school year!” she said. “So we’ve gotta get serious about memorising our lines!”

“I still have to finish writing Gamzee and Tavros’s play.” Calliope said.

“Don’t worry! It’ll be fine!” Roxy said. Karkat glanced at his copy of the script for him and Sollux.

“What’s with this?” he asked.

“You try thinking up a modern Cinderella for two guys.” Calliope said. “Of course it’s a bit odd.”

“Do I get to actually drink thomething or ith it gonna be a thtupid prop?” Sollux asked.

“I’m pretty sure you could bring some soda.” Roxy said.

“Cool.”

“So does Kanaya have our outfits planned out?” Roxy asked.

“Yeah, she’s working on Calliope’s dress right now.” Karkat said.

“Great. Let’s take a look through the prop box in the back to see if there’s anything we can use.” Roxy led them all to the back room where there was a giant box full of the weirdest to the coolest props. They all started rummaging through it. Calliope found a cardboard cut-out of a witch.

“This could be the evil stepmother.” she said.

“That’s perfect!” Roxy said.

“Aw, cool. Check out this motherfucking miracle.” Gamzee said. He held up a giant clown head. He put it on and did a dance.

“Perfect! That’s what you’re wearing!” Roxy said. Gamzee grinned and took it off.

“Hey, KK could wear thith cape.” Sollux held up a brown cape to Karkat.

“Yeah! You should totally wear that Karkat!” Roxy said.

“I’ll ask Kanaya if it’ll work with my costume.” Karkat pulled out his phone and texted Kanaya.

CG: HEY KANAYA, ROXY WANTS ME TO WEAR A BROWN CAPE FOR THE PLAY.

GA: I See. Please Send Me A Picture Of This Cape.

Karkat took a picture of it and sent it to her.

GA: I Believe It Will Work Well With It.

CG: OKAY.

“Yeah, I can wear it.” he said.

“Great. Hey, check this out!” Roxy said. She put on an incredibly long unicorn horn and posed. “I’ll be the unicorn that Karkat and Sollux ride of on into the sunset!”

“You look more like a narwhal than a unicorn.” Sollux said.

“Fine! I’ll be a two-legged narwhal that you ride off into the sunset!”

“How about fuck no.” Karkat said. Roxy stuck her tongue out at him.

“You’re so boring Karkat. Have some creativity.”

“Hey, Tavbro could wear these motherfucking wings.” Gamzee said, pulling some orange fairy wings out of the box.

“Yeah! That would be so cute!” Roxy said, clapping. Tavros shrugged and mumbled something.

“Hey, can you six come out here for a minute?” Aranea asked. Karkat and the others put the props down and walked out. The principal was standing there.

“We’ve got another field trip on the second to last week of school. Get these signed and handed in this week or you can’t go.” She handed out the permission slips then walked out. Karkat read his and sighed.

“Oh, it’s just a summer camp thing.” he said.

“Sounds like fun!” Roxy said. “It’s right at Beforus Lake too! We can go swimming!”

“Are we gonna go into the forest near there?” Karkat asked.

“No, we’re going to a different one.” Sollux said. He pointed at the map on the back of the sheet. “Thee? Thith one.”

“Oh.” Karkat wondered how Sollux knew which forest he’d meant.

They spent the rest of the class discussing the play and playing with the props. After school Karkat walked home with Sollux as usual and gave Porrim the permission slip. Then he went on his computer and played some games for awhile. He marked the day of the field trip on the calendar. He stared at the date and sighed. Hopefully it would go better than the skiing field trip. Being stuck inside a cabin with the same people and a limited amount of food for the whole day had not been fun.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry for not updating sooner. I was going to on Saturday, but I was tired from a week of visiting some family so I crashed at home and played videogames for two days. Then yesterday my sister was sick so I spent the day with her. But now I'm back with a new chapter! :)

“One hundred bottles of beer on the wall! One hundred bottles of beer! Take on down, pass it around! Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall!” Karkat groaned and covered his ears. Could Roxy sing any louder?

“Cheer up KK, we’ll be there thoon.” Sollux said. Karkat shrugged and stared out the window. They were on the school bus, going to Alternia Camp. Karkat stared at the buildings they were passing by and they blurred together in his vision. He wasn’t too excited for the field trip. He usually found camps kind of boring. And now he would be at one for five days. Well, they’d be going back on the fifth day, but still.

“I can see the camp!” someone yelled. Immediately nearly all the students crowded around the windows. They cheered as the camp came into view. Karkat just sighed and put his phone away. When the bus pulled up he followed Sollux outside. Roxy and Calliope were waiting for them. Gamzee and Tavros were on another bus. They waited as the next bus pulled up and students came out. Gamzee and Tavros came up to them.

“This looks like it’ll be motherfucking fantastic!” Gamzee said.

“Yeah! This is gonna be awesome!” Roxy exclaimed.

“Okay everyone! Listen up!” All the students went quiet and looked at the guy with the megaphone. “Okay, we’re going to split you all into your cabin groups now. First you have to go to one of these poles. There’s one for each homeroom class. Please line up at your homeroom’s pole. Your homeroom teacher will come around to make sure everyone’s there, so don’t try and get with your friends.” Karkat, Gamzee, Tavros and Sollux walked around until they found their homeroom. They stood and waited while the other students stumbled around trying to find their pole.

When everyone was lined up their homeroom teacher came and took attendance. Then he sorted everyone into groups. Karkat, Sollux, Gamzee and Tavros were all a group again. They were directed to their cabin by a volunteer at the camp. Karkat got a bottom bunk because they were warned that the top bunks were a bit unstable in their cabin. Sollux got the one next to his. Gamzee and Tavros got bottom bunks next to each other and their chaperone, which was the same teacher they’d gotten at the skiing field trip, got the last bottom bunk.

Then they all went to the main cabin for lunch. They sat at a table with Roxy and Calliope, who were in a cabin together. They talked about the camp and how it looked and what kind of things they might do. They ate sandwiches that tasted alright. When everyone finished eating the guy with the megaphone got up on the small stage and got everyone to quiet down.

“Okay, we’re gonna go over all the safety rules of this place. But first, please remember that you’re not allowed to take pictures. Okay, now first; you can’t go into the forest at night because you might get eaten. That doesn’t usually happen, but it’s still possible. Second; if you get attacked by a dangerous animal, just sing jingle-bells at the top of your lungs and we’ll come help with tranquilizer guns. Third; you cannot start a fire here. Only we’re allowed to do that, and that’s just for the bonfire. Fourth; you can’t leave your cabin after lights-out without being accompanied by your chaperone. Fifth; boys aren’t allowed in the girls’ cabins without permission, and vice-versa. All clear?” Everyone nodded. “Okay, great. All of you can go back to your cabins now. You’ll be starting your first activities tomorrow. Oh, and there’s a bonfire every night at 8 o’clock. Your chaperone can lead you to it.”

Everyone got up and went back to their cabins. Karkat sat on his bunk and picked at a tear in the mattress. Sollux started playing flappy bird on his phone and Gamzee was talking to Tavros. After awhile it was time to go to the bonfire. Their chaperone led them down a path to a large area were there was a big bonfire with log benches around it. They all sat down and Gamzee had brought marshmallows. Roxy got them all sticks to use and they cooked the marshmallows over the fire. Other kids were doing the same thing.

The camp people acted out stories and made jokes and sang songs. Other kids told creepy stories or funny ones. Karkat half listened as he roasted another marshmallow. Eventually it was announced that everyone had to go to sleep. Karkat got up and followed their chaperone back to their cabin. He lay down and stretched. He glanced at Sollux and grinned. The beds were too short for Sollux so he was a bit cramped. Gamzee was too.

“Thith thuckth.” Sollux commented.

“Too bad you’re so tall.” Karkat said.

“At leatht I’m not short like you.”

“Shut up.”


	29. Chapter 29

The next day Karkat had waffles for breakfast. They were actually pretty good. Then they went on a nature walk with some other cabin groups. Their guide talked about the plants and animals and habitat they were in. No one really listened and just talked amongst themselves.

Eventually they came to a waterfall. A bunch of kids instantly broke the no-taking-pictures rule and got their phones taken away. Then they kept climbing and came to a river. The guide talked about the kinds of fish that lived in the river and the bugs that depended on the river to survive. Then they took a different path down again. The path also led them to the Lake, where they could see Calliope and Roxy and some other girls swimming. Gamzee waved to them and Calliope and Roxy waved back.

By the time they got back it was lunch time. They ate wraps instead of sandwiches and talked about the hike. Calliope and Roxy talked about how fun the Lake was to swim in.

“We caught newts!” Roxy said. “They were so cute! We had to let them go right away, but it was so fun!”

“Sounds awesome.” Gamzee said.

“I heard we’re doing archery next.” Sollux said. Karkat groaned. He was terrible at archery. He’d done it in P.E. class before and he did terrible.

After lunch Karkat found out he was still terrible at archery. He was lucky if he could even shoot the arrow farther than ten feet, and even if he did it almost never hit the target. Eventually he rage-quit and threw the bow on the ground. He got in trouble for that and had to sit out for the rest of the activity. Which was exactly what he wanted to do anyway, so it wasn’t really much of a punishment.

After that they had supper and then went to the bonfire. Gamzee brought more marshmallows and they roasted them over the fire. The camp volunteers acted out stories and told jokes and sang songs again. Calliope fell asleep a few minutes after they started and was lying on Roxy’s lap. Roxy clearly didn’t mind and patted her head.

Eventually it was time to go back to their cabins. They all waited while Roxy tried to wake Calliope up by shaking her shoulder.

“Calliope, c’mon. We have to go back to our cabin.” Roxy said. Calliope mumbled something and shook her head. Then she gasped and sat up and fell off the log. “Calliope? Are you okay?” Roxy and Gamzee bent down next to her. Karkat realized she was crying.

“I-I had a nightmare again.” Calliope said. Roxy and Gamzee hugged her and whispered to her. Karkat and his friends waited and so did the girls from Roxy and Calliope’s cabin. Eventually Calliope calmed down and got up. They all walked to their cabins and Karkat lay down.

“Goodnight weirdoes.” the chaperone said.

“Goodnight moron.” Karkat mumbled. He heard Sollux chuckle and he grinned. “He is so a moron.”

“Yep, he ith.”

 

Karkat woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep. He glanced at Sollux, then realized he was gone. He looked at their chaperone, who was snoring loudly. He got up and slowly snuck outside. He shut the door quietly behind him and walked down the path. The path was a bit muddy so he could see Sollux’s footprints easily. He followed them to the Lake. He looked around but he couldn’t see any sign of Sollux. He looked down and noticed his shirt, shoes and socks lying on the ground. What were they doing there? Then Sollux surfaced from the water of the Lake. He shook his head and floated on his back.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Karkat asked. Sollux looked at him and grinned.

“I couldn’t thleep.” he said, swimming over.

“So you’re swimming?” Karkat asked. Sollux nodded and stopped at the edge of the Lake, where the water was still deep enough to swim.

“You should join me.” he said. Karkat shook his head. Sollux grinned and grabbed his legs and dragged him into the water.

“Whoa—fuck!” Karkat exclaimed. Then he was under the water. He could hear Sollux laughing but he wasn’t focusing on that. He was focusing on a very important fact:

He couldn’t swim.

He thrashed around and tried to get to the surface. But he had his eyes closed so he couldn’t see where he was supposed to go. He wasn’t sure what direction was up anymore and he was getting dizzy. Then he felt someone’s arms wrap around him and he was pulled out of the water. He gasped and clung to the person.

“You okay KK?” Sollux asked. Karkat nodded, still gasping for air. “Can’t you thwim?”

“…No!” Karkat snapped.

“Oh. Thorry.” Karkat sighed and shook his head.

“It’s fine.” Karkat sighed, then remembered Sollux wasn’t wearing his shirt. “Jesus, put your fucking shirt on.” Sollux laughed and smirked at him.

“What? Am I turning you on?” Karkat blushed and shook his head. Sollux just laughed. “Yeth I am.”

“No you aren’t!” Sollux chuckled and tilted Karkat’s head back. Karkat felt himself blush even more and opened his mouth to tell Sollux to cut it out. But before he could Sollux leaned forward and kissed him.

Karkat gasped and his eyes went wide. Sollux stroked the back of his neck and hugged him tighter. Karkat just stayed frozen in the same position. Whoa, Sollux had just kissed him! Holy crap! What was he supposed to do now? It didn’t fell bad when he kissed him, it actually felt kinda nice…

After a few seconds Karkat hugged Sollux back. Sollux grinned and kissed him again. This time Karkat kissed him back. They didn’t move for awhile. Eventually though Karkat started shivering, so Sollux lifted him out of the water. 

Karkat took his shirt off and tried to wring as much water from it as possible. It still wasn’t very dry after that but he put it back on anyway. Sollux put his shirt, socks and shoes back on. Karkat sat next to him and wrung water out of his socks. They were still pretty wet so he didn’t bother to put them back on. And he kept his shoes off too. He and Sollux stood up and walked back to their cabin. They changed clothes and put their wet clothes on the top bunks to dry. Then Karkat lay down in bed. Sollux lay down so his head was touching Karkat’s. He stretched out so his head was next to Karkat. He ran his hands through Karkat’s hair and Karkat felt himself blush. Sollux grinned and kissed him. It was a little weird since they were upside down, but Karkat didn’t mind.

“Love you KK.” Sollux whispered.

“…Love you too.” Karkat whispered.


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Really sorry for the long wait for an update! My excuse this time: I finished watching a season of Doctor Who and watched the 3rd season of Supernatural and watched a movie (Pride). I was also pretty lazy. I'm back now though.

“Wake up you guys!” Karkat sighed and opened his eyes. The chaperone was banging on the wall to wake them all up. “It’s time for breakfast.” He walked out and slammed the door behind him. Karkat sighed, then noticed the position he was in. His legs were on his bunk but he was curved over so his back was on Sollux’s chest and his head in the crook of his neck. He shook Sollux’s shoulder and he yawned.

“Morning KK.” he mumbled. They sat up, then noticed Gamzee was grinning at them. Karkat blushed and rolled his eyes. He noticed Tavros had some of Gamzee’s face paint on his face. Okay, they were all so gay.

“Roxy will be one happy motherfucker.” Gamzee said. Karkat rolled his eyes and stood up. They all got up and walked out of the cabin. Their chaperone had apparently gone on ahead. He wasn’t a very good chaperone.

“Gamzee!” They all turned and saw Roxy running up to them.

“Hey Roxy, guess what? Karbro and Solbro-”

“Gamzee!” Roxy interrupted. “Have you seen Calliope?!”

“No, why?”

“I can’t find her! She wasn’t in our cabin when I woke up and no one’s seen her!”

“She could be at breakfatht.” Sollux said.

“Our chaperone already looked there.” Gamzee frowned and pulled out his phone.

“Lemme call her.” he said.

“I tried, but she didn’t pick up.” Roxy said. Gamzee waited for a few seconds for someone to answer.

“Gamzee!” Karkat froze and Gamzee tensed up. That hadn’t been Calliope’s voice. That had been a boy’s voice. Who was talking?

“W-what…” Gamzee stuttered.

“Hi Gamzee. I haven’t seen _you_ in awhile. It’s been almost a year, hasn’t it? I’m just having a reunion with my _sweet_ sister. You’re welcome to join us.”

“Well sure motherfucker.” Gamzee said. Karkat shivered. Gamzee’s voice had gone deep and creepy. What the heck? “Where are you? I’ll be right over for the miracles.” The guy on the other end of the phone started laughing. His laugh scared the hell out of Karkat.

“Really? You think I’ll tell you? YOU THINK I’LL BELIEVE YOU?! YOU THINK I’VE FORGOTTEN WHAT YOU DID?!” Gamzee clenched his hands into fists and was frowning. “…But…if you find me, you’re welcome to join us. We’re always so alike, you and I.”

Gamzee stayed frozen, holding the phone to his ear. Then he slowly put it away.

“Gamzee?” Tavros said. “Who—who was that?”

“I gotta go save her.” Gamzee said.

“What? What’s going on?!” Roxy asked. “Who was that?”

“That was her brother.”

“But he’s in juvie!” Roxy protested.

“Apparently he escaped.” Gamzee took a deep breath and Karkat noticed his hands were shaking. “Okay, I have to deal with this motherfucker myself…so just…wait here.”

“No.” Tavros said. They all stared at him in surprise. “You—you’re really scared Gamzee. We’re coming with you.” Gamzee hesitated.

“Only if you promise not to let him see you.” he said. “Just…stay hidden unless you need to help me. Okay?”

“Okay.” they all said. Gamzee nodded and pulled out his phone.

“I can track Calliope’s phone. Follow me.” Roxy pushed Tavros’s wheelchair as they all followed Gamzee into the forest.

They walked for quite awhile. Someone was bound to notice their absence. Hopefully it would all work out. Gamzee led them off the path and through some bushes. Eventually he stopped behind a tree. He put his phone away and looked at them all.

“…Okay, just stay here and…watch. Okay?” They all nodded. “Um…and if it looks like I’m gonna do something I’ll regret…stop me.”

“We will.” Tavros said. Gamzee nodded.

“Okay.” He took a deep breath and walked around the tree.

 

Gamzee stared at Caliborn. He was just as he remembered him: bald head, bright red eyes, teeth that looked like fangs and one gold tooth. He was holding the same knife Gamzee remembered him always using. It still had the old bloodstains on it. Lying at Caliborn’s feet was Calliope. Her wig was torn off, revealing the burn scars. Her dress was stained with blood and Gamzee could see cuts on her arms and legs. She was crying and her face was hidden by the grass.

“So good to see you again Gamzee.” Caliborn said with a sneer. Gamzee took a deep breath and stood up straight. He was taller than Caliborn. He didn’t have to be afraid of him.

“Let Calliope go.” Gamzee said. Caliborn laughed and Gamzee shivered. But not because it was creepy. Because he could feel the feeling he used to get from Caliborn’s laugh inside him. That feeling scared the hell out of him.

“You don’t really feel that way Gamzee.” Caliborn said. “Don’t you remember all the fun we had? Before you betrayed me?” Caliborn grinned and took a step towards Gamzee. “You miss the fun, don’t you?”

“No.” Gamzee said, gulping. Caliborn laughed and shook his head. He held up the knife, which was still dripping with fresh blood.

“Don’t you want to have a turn?” Caliborn took another step towards Gamzee. “You’ve done it before.” Gamzee felt his hands shake and he willed himself to shove them in his pockets. But he couldn’t move. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from the knife. “That scar on Calliope’s right shoulder?” Caliborn grinned and took another step. “ _You’re_ the one who made it!”

“..Shut up.”

“What about that girl in the alley? You enjoyed it, don’t deny it. You had the most wonderful smile as you clubbed her!” Caliborn took another step forward. He was only a few inches away from Gamzee. “How is this time any different than all the others?” He lifted up Gamzee’s right hand and put the knife in it. “It’s so easy. You’ve done it so many times already. Just take the knife Gamzee. You can’t ignore me or disobey me for long. We’re just so alike…” Caliborn curled Gamzee’s fingers around the knife. Gamzee stared at its sharp edge. The blood on it gleamed in the sunlight.

“G-Gamzee…” Calliope whispered. He looked down at her and she looked up at him with her huge green eyes. He remembered that look. He shivered and clutched the knife. He could feel tears forming in his eyes, but he couldn’t blink them away.

“You remember how it felt, don’t you?” Caliborn whispered. “Do it again Gamzee. But this time will be different. This time you won’t betray me. You’ll never leave me ever again, will you?” Gamzee breathed heavily and tried to move. He willed himself to drop the knife, to back away. But he couldn’t. “C’mon Gamzee, I haven’t got all day. If you’re quick, I’ll let you have fun with your friends behind the tree.” Caliborn pointed to the tree where his friends were hiding. No! They couldn’t get hurt! He had to protect them! Something in Gamzee snapped and his head went clear.

“NO!” Gamzee shouted. He stabbed Caliborn in the right shoulder and shoved him away from him. Caliborn stumbled, but didn’t fall down. He glared at Gamzee and pulled the knife out of him.

“Y-you…you’re betraying me…again. For th-them?!” He pointed a shaky finger at Gamzee’s friends, who had all stepped out from behind the tree. Gamzee took a deep breath.

“Yeah. I am.” he said. Caliborn glared at him and howled like a wounded animal.

“I’ll never forgive you!” He jumped at him and Gamzee ducked and threw him. Caliborn flew back and hit a tree. He glared at him and Gamzee could tell he was surprised. Gamzee was too. He didn’t think he could actually fight Caliborn. “W-why…does everyone…leave me?!” Tears were running down Caliborn’s face. But Gamzee felt no pity for him.

“It’s your own fault.” he said. Caliborn glared at him.

“F-fine! I don’t need you! I don’t need anyone!” Caliborn laughed. “I’m just fine on my own! I don’t need friends! I don’t need anyone! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” Gamzee could hear adults running over to them. Probably the camp volunteers and teachers. “I’m perfectly fine with just myself! I don’t need another soul! I can just love myself and hate everyone else! Ha-ha-ha-ha! I don’t need anyone else! No one at all! Aha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, about people wondering why Calliope forgave Gamzee for hurting her: he broke out of the control Caliborn had over him and saved her from him or something? I'm sorry, it's been awhile since I wrote this fanfiction, so I don't really remember. Hope that helped though. :P

Caliborn was taken to a mental asylum. Calliope was rushed to a hospital. Some policemen talked to Gamzee. Gamzee was quiet for the rest of the day and wouldn’t leave the cabin. Tavros stayed with him the whole time and Roxy went with Calliope to the hospital. Karkat and Sollux didn’t do any activities that day. They just sat in the main cabin and stared into space. Neither of them could think of something to say.

Karkat and Sollux skipped the bonfire. When they got back to their cabin Gamzee looked like he’d been crying. Tavros had an arm around his shoulders and was whispering to him. Karkat gave him a hug and Sollux patted his shoulder. Then they went to sleep.

None of them really participated in the activities for the rest of the trip. Roxy would usually go see Calliope, then come back when it was time for bed. She didn’t talk much, except for saying that Calliope was doing alright. Gamzee went to see her too.

The five of them were very quiet on the bus ride home. They weren’t in the mood for conversations. When they got back they were surprised to see Calliope waiting for them. She said she was healed enough to be out and about since her wounds weren’t as bad as they’d seemed at first. Roxy cried and kissed her and Gamzee hugged her and apologized a bunch.

None of them ever talked about the things Caliborn had said to Gamzee. Karkat was sure Gamzee wanted to forget about the things he’d mentioned he’d done. To cheer everyone up Calliope took them all to her place and they had a party. It got pretty fun when Roxy got drunk and started dancing. At that point all the tension seemed to disappear and they all had a great time. 

They spent Sunday at Roxy’s practicing for the play. Gamzee and Tavros were in one room practicing theirs. Roxy and Calliope were in Calliope’s bedroom practicing. And Karkat and Sollux were in the living room.

“I wonder what other shitty plays the rest of the class thought up.” Karkat said.

“Who knowth?” Sollux said. “They’re probably all really weird though.”

Roxy drove everyone home when they finished. Sollux stayed over at Karkat’s for a bit. They played videogames for awhile until Karkat rage-quit.

“It’th jutht a game KK.” Sollux said.

“Shut up.” Karkat snapped. Sollux grinned and leaned forward and kissed him. Karkat kissed him back and hugged him.

“Ahem.” Karkat jumped and turned around. Porrim was standing in the doorway, smirking. “I don’t really care what you two do, just keep the rating at T, okay?” Karkat blushed and she shut the door. Sollux just laughed.

“You’re aunt ith great KK.” he said. Karkat rolled his eyes.

“Shut up.” Sollux kissed him again and Karkat smiled and forgot about his annoying family.

Sollux stayed over for supper. He talked with Porrim and Kanaya and Kankri ranted to him about him and Karkat. Karkat just ignored the conversations and ate his food. After supper Sollux had to go home. Kanaya gave him his costume for the play.

“Good luck tomorrow.” Kanaya said.

“Thankth.” Sollux said. Karkat kissed him goodbye and waved as he walked off. Then he ducked into his room before Kankri could give him a lecture. Kanaya gave him his costume and he looked at it. Well…it didn’t look _too_ weird. It was pretty much just brown pants and a shirt with a hood. The cape would look pretty good with it.

After that he went to bed. He lay awake for awhile. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was nervous for the play. He wasn’t really sure how good his acting skills were. Sollux had said he did fine, but he could just be saying that so that he didn’t insult him. Sollux  _was_ good at acting, Karkat had seen that. He was pretty sure his own acting would look terrible in comparison. After awhile he sighed and made himself think of something different. Eventually he fell asleep and had a weird dream about being a prince in a fairy tale and rescuing the evil person from the princess, then wound up getting decapitated by the princess. The princess looked oddly like Roxy too…


	32. Chapter 32

“Don’t be so nervous Karkat.” Kanaya said.

“I’m not nervous.” Karkat mumbled. Then he dropped his spoon on the floor. Kanaya sighed and picked it up for him.

“Yes you are. Just relax. Everyone else will probably do terrible as well, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Hey, don’t call our dumb play terrible if you haven’t even seen it!” Kanaya smiled.

“Alright. Good luck today.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Karkat brought his costume to school. Kanaya had given the others theirs already. When drama class came all the students got to go change into their costumes. Karkat put his on, then went backstage with his friends. Calliope was wearing a green princess dress with glitter and red lace. She had a tiara in her hair too. Roxy was wearing dark blue pants and shirt and had a fake sword sheathed at her side. She also had tall black boots and she’d drawn some stubble on her chin with a marker. Gamzee was wearing black pants and a black shirt and a purple silk coat that trailed on the ground. His shoes were also purple. Tavros was wearing light blue pants and a yellow shirt. His sandals were golden and he wasn’t wearing any socks. He also had the fairy wings on. Sollux was wearing a dark green robe and black boots. The robe had a hood that covered his hair.

“We all look so cool!” Roxy said. Then Karkat’s phone went off.

“Hello?”

“Hi Karkat, it’s Kanaya. We’re in the audience.”

“What?!” Karkat looked through the curtains and saw Porrim, Kanaya and Kankri sitting together. Porrim and Kanaya waved and Karkat saw that Porrim was carrying a video camera.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Porrim said in the phone. Karkat ducked his head back in and glared at his phone.

“Why are you gonna videotape it?!”

“Because it will be such a wonderful memory.” Porrim said.

“Fuck that!”

“Karkat, that’s very triggering of you-”

“Do not start!” Karkat yelled. He did not want to have to deal with one of Kankri’s rants.

“Who’s that talking?” Roxy asked, pointing at Karkat’s phone.

“That’s Karbro’s uncle.” Gamzee said.

“Oh, cool. Hi Mr. Vantasy! I’m Karkat’s friend Roxy!”

“Vantasy?! Excuse me but that is highly triggering! I’m sure you wouldn’t enjoy it if someone else made fun of your name by making it sound cutesy and if you actually would then you should know that I do not! You really should be more considerate of other people’s triggers or you will end up causing many triggers in the people you converse with. I would suggest you make a list of all your friends’ triggers so as to assure that you will not trigger them in future conversations. And while we’re on that topic, I might as well give you some of my own triggers so that you will not trigger me in the future-” Karkat hung up his phone. Calliope looked through the curtains.

“He’s still talking. I don’t think he realizes you hung up.” she said. Roxy laughed.

“He’s so funny!” she said.

“Okay you guys, you’re up first.” Aranea said.

“Wait, what?!” Karkat exclaimed.

“Don’t worry Karkat, Calliope and I are first. Then it’s Gamzee and Tavros, then you and Sollux.” Sollux helped Roxy and Calliope set up things for their Snow White play. Then he stood next to Karkat and Roxy went out of the curtains and talked to the crowd. “Hi! We’ve got a play that’s so awesome because it’s actually three short plays! We’re starting off with Snow White, so start applauding!” She walked backstage and the curtains opened.

Calliope played Snow White, talking about her horrible stepmother (the cardboard witch). Roxy would stand behind it and go “Grrr!” whenever the stepmother was mentioned. Then there was the whole thing of Snow White running away into a forest. Then she found the cottage and took a quick nap. Then she woke up. And a bunch of lawn gnomes walked on stage.

Sollux had made the remote-controlled lawn gnomes for the play. He was controlling them and grinning as he did it. They circled Calliope.

“It’s kind of creepy how much you’re enjoying that.” Karkat said. Sollux grinned.

“I’m feeling really intimidated!” Calliope whined.

“Don’t fear beautiful princess!” Roxy shouted. She ran onstage, knocking over the cardboard witch as she did. “I, Prince Roxy, will save you from the evil dwarves!” Roxy then proceeded to attack the lawn gnomes with her sword. She even kicked some so they landed in the audience.

“Hey! I worked hard on thothe!” Sollux exclaimed. When all of the gnomes had been dispatched Roxy carried Calliope offstage. The audience clapped and the curtains closed again. Sollux helped set up things for Gamzee and Tavros. Roxy went out and addressed the crowd again.

“Okay, now we have Beauty and the Beast! But first, is there anyone here afraid of clowns? …Yeah? Okay all of you get out.” Karkat watched some people leave the room. “Okay, we’re ready to start!” Roxy ran backstage and the play started.

Tavros played the part of the person who falls in love with the beastperson. Gamzee wore the clown head while in beast form, and took it off when in handsome (?) prince form. They acted out the scenes well enough and Gamzee carried Tavros offstage. People clapped and cheered. Sollux went and set things up for their play. Karkat sighed. Hopefully he wouldn’t screw up.

“Okay, last of all, we have Cinderella. Oh, people who are afraid of clowns can come back in now!” Karkat heard the people who’d left go back in. “Okay, enjoy!”

Karkat was the only person on the stage because Sollux came later. Calliope was the narrator.

“This is a guy who’s never gotten a date.” she said. Karkat immediately flipped her off. “He’s pretty touchy about it too. So he’s going to a party.”

“Actually, I’m just fucking gatecrashing.” Karkat said.

“…You’re terrible.” Calliope said. “Anyway, he’s gonna go gatecrash a party next door. But he can’t go dressed like that.”

“What?” Karkat was confused. This was the only costume Kanaya had given him.

“That’s right. So I’ll play fairy-godmother and get you a new outfit.” Calliope grabbed a curtain and wheeled it over to him. She shoved him in there. “Put on the clothes in there. Karkat looked around and noticed a bag on the floor. He opened it and pulled out…

“What the fuck?! I’m not wearing the fucking dress!” he shouted. Yeah, it was the dress Roxy had given him for Christmas.

“Put it on Karkat!” Calliope said.

“No! This wasn’t in the fucking script!”

“Yeah, we thought it up last minute. Put it on.”

“No!”

“Sollux, get in there and make him put it on!” Roxy shouted. Sollux popped in a second later.

“Sollux, get the fuck away from me! I’m not putting it on!”

“Yeth you are.” Sollux said. After a bunch of shouting and struggling Karkat had been forced into the dress. Sollux shoved him out of the curtains and the audience laughed. Karkat could feel himself blush. He glared at Calliope.

“I’m going to murder you all, I swear.” he said. Calliope just smiled sweetly and nodded.

“Now you’re going to the party!” she said. The curtains closed and Sollux quickly changed the scenery. Karkat elbowed him in the side and Sollux grinned at him.

“You know you love that dreth.” he whispered. He leaned forward and kissed him, then rushed off and finished changing the scene. Karkat stood there for a second before Roxy pulled him backstage. The curtains opened and he walked on.

The party scene really just had a table with fake food on it, some cardboard cut-out people (including the witch) and a disco ball was hanging from the ceiling. Karkat just stood in a corner and pulled out his phone. Then he played flappy bird. Sollux walked on, drinking a soda. He walked up to Karkat, who was glaring at his phone.

“Hey.” Sollux said. Karkat grunted in response. “Nithe dreth.” Karkat flipped him off and slammed his phone on the ground.

“Stupid game.” he muttered. Sollux stood next to him.

“Wanna hook up?” he said.

“What the fuck?! Why would you ask that?!”

“Becauthe you totally want me.” Karkat rolled his eyes. Man, their play was stupid.

“Fine. Whatever.” Then Roxy suddenly ran onstage wearing the unicorn/narwhal horn.

“Random two-legged narwhal!” she yelled. She ran up and grabbed Karkat. “Now kiss!” She shoved Karkat on Sollux and they both fell over. And they kissed.

The crowd erupted in laughs and some cheers. Karkat could feel himself blushing. Sollux picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. Karkat yelled and kicked but Sollux just laughed. Gamzee, Tavros and Calliope walked onstage and they all bowed. When Roxy bowed she accidentally hit someone with her unicorn/narwhal horn. When Sollux bowed Karkat accidentally fell forward and hit some kid.

“Oopth, thorry.” Sollux said. He stood back up and carried Karkat off the stage.

After their play came their classmates’. One kid did a play about falling in love with a ghost. Karkat thought Sollux seemed to really pay attention to that one. He could have been imagining it though. There were some other stupid plays that Karkat didn’t really pay attention to. When they were all done Porrim, Kankri and Kanaya came to see them.

“That was wonderful Karkat.” Kanaya said. Karkat just glared at her.

“You knew I was gonna have to wear the fucking dress, didn’t you?!” he accused. Kanaya smiled.

“Guilty as charged.”

“I personally loved the play.” Porrim said. Then Kankri began ranting to Karkat about how that must have been so triggering for him and did he need to talk about the triggers and blah, blah, blah, blah.

After school they all went to Calliope’s house for a party. Apparently it was to celebrate how awesome they were. Porrim lent them the camera so they could watch the video. Karkat’s only opinion on it was that he hated them for taking a video of it.

“You look hot in a dreth KK.” Sollux said.

“Fuck you.” Karkat muttered.


	33. Chapter 33

Karkat spent most of summer vacation at Sollux’s house. They played videogames, watched movies and TV and ate ice-cream on the porch. And of course they made out. Sollux’s dad seemed pretty happy about Sollux’s relationship. Kankri had just ranted to them a whole lot. Kanaya had smiled and congratulated them. And Porrim had told them not to have sex. God, Karkat’s family was weird.

Karkat woke up with Sollux lying next to him. That had been happening quite a bit for the past few weeks. Karkat smiled and sat up. He stretched out and stood up. He grabbed a shirt and pulled it on. Then he brushed his hair with his hands. He bent down and shook Sollux’s shoulder.

“Wake up Sollux. It’s morning.” Sollux blinked and sat up.

“Morning KK.” he muttered. They stood up and walked to the table. Sollux’s dad was drinking coffee.

“Good morning.” he said. Karkat nodded and Sollux grunted in response. They each grabbed themselves a bowl of cereal. They sat down and Karkat munched on his cereal. He glanced up at Sollux and noticed he was frowning.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“…Headache.” Sollux said. “It should be fine though.”

“Okay.” 

They finished eating their breakfast and went to Sollux’s room. They sat down and played videogames. They played Mario Kart and Sollux played Lakitu while Karkat played Bowser. Karkat used Bowser because he could imagine him squashing all the other cars. But he never did. Karkat always played videogames with Sollux with the knowledge that he would lose, and still flip out when he lost. But that time he actually beat him. He glanced at Sollux worriedly.

“You okay? I just beat you at Mario Kart.”

“It’th thith thtupid headache.” Sollux complained. “I haven’t gotten one thinthe…” Sollux gasped and doubled over.

“Sollux? You okay?”

“Th-there are thome pillth in a box in a drawer! Get them!” Karkat walked over to Sollux’s chest of drawers.

“Which drawer?”

“Th-third one! Hurry up!” Karkat opened it and rummaged through. After a few seconds he pulled out a plastic box with some white pills. He opened it and took a pill out. He sat next to Sollux and passed it to him.

Sollux popped it in his mouth and swallowed. He was shaking and breathing hard. Then he jerked and landed on his back. His back arced terribly and he gasped. Then he suddenly collapsed, breathing hard. Karkat bent over him and heard Sollux’s dad enter the room.

“Sollux?” Karkat said. He reached for him but Sollux shoved him away. He sat up and curled up into a ball.

“Thollux, what happened?” his dad asked. He noticed the box of pills Karkat was holding and he sighed. He took the box from Karkat and put it next to Sollux.

“Go away.” Sollux choked. Karkat frowned. Was he crying?

“Sollux-”

“Leave me alone!” Sollux’s dad grabbed Karkat’s arm and pulled him to his feet. He dragged him out of the room and shut the door.

“What just happened?” Karkat asked. Sollux’s dad sighed.

“Athk Thollux about it when he calmth down, okay? For now it’th betht to give him thome thpace.” Karkat watched Sollux’s dad walk back to his office and shut the door. Karkat looked at the door to Sollux’s room and wondered what he should do. In the end he sat down and waited. After an hour Sollux’s dad came back out. “I think it’th okay to talk to him now.” So Karkat stood up and walked into Sollux’s room.

Sollux was curled up on his bed with the blankets pulled over him. Karkat reached forward and pulled the blankets back. Sollux stared at him and crawled away from him. He was clutching a photograph to his chest and his glasses had fallen off, revealing his peculiarly coloured eyes, which were red from crying.

“Sollux, what’s wrong?” Karkat asked. Sollux closed his eyes and hung his head. Karkat sat next to him and reached for his shoulder. Sollux slapped his hand away and wrapped his arms around himself. “Sollux? What just happened?” Sollux was quiet for awhile. He took deep breaths and after awhile he lifted his head up. But he wouldn’t look Karkat in the eye.

“…When you were a kid, your parentth died, right?”

“Yeah…” Karkat wondered where he was going with this.

“There wath a kid who thaved you from the murderer, remember?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Sollux sighed like Karkat was stupid.

“That wath me.”

Karkat’s jaw practically hit the ground. It made so much sense if he thought about it! It explained why Sollux had looked familiar when he first saw him, and why Sollux had looked shocked when he saw Karkat! Karkat couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized it!

“Why didn’t you tell me that?!”

“Becauthe of how I thaved you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember what happened?”

“Um, you caught me when I jumped out a window. Then…I dunno. I remember you shooting bright light and destroying the house, but that’s impossible.”

“No it’th not.”

“What?” Sollux looked at him in the eye.

“It’th not. I can do that.”

“…Whoa, what? You have like, laser eyes or something?”

“I have pthiionic powerth. My dad doeth too.”

“Okay…then what does that have to do with what just happened?” Sollux sighed and looked at the photograph he was holding.

“…I had a girlfriend back in the town I moved from. We were childhood friendth.” Sollux took a deep breath then continued. “Thometimeth, if I don’t uthe my powerth for a long time, they build up inthide me and if I don’t take thothe pillth they forthe out of me and…” Sollux started crying again. “I-I uthually had the pillth on me all the time. But…one time I forgot them at home. And we were at the park and I…” Sollux covered his face with his hands. “…She died.”

“Oh.”

“That’th why we had to move out here. I-I thought they’d thtopped becauthe it didn’t happen again while we were here but now…” Karkat reached forward to hug Sollux. Sollux pushed him away again. “Th-thtop it! I’m dangerouth! I-I’ll hurt you I—I don’t want to hurt you KK. Pleathe thtay away from me.”

“No.” Karkat said. “I’m not going to stay away from you.” He reached forward and forcefully hugged Sollux, who tried to shove him away.

“Thtop it!”

“No!”

“KK, pleathe-”

“No! Okay? I’m not leaving you alone.” Karkat kissed Sollux’s forehead and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s okay. It’s obviously happening less now, right? It’ll probably stop eventually. That doesn’t happen to your dad, does it?”

“No, but it never did. How do you know it’ll thtop?”

“I don’t, okay? But that’s what I think will happen.”

“What if I hurt you?”

“I won’t let you. I promise.”

“You’ll be thafer if you jutht thtay away from me.”

“I don’t want to be safer Sollux, I just want to be with you.”

“…I’m thorry.”

“Don’t apologise.” Sollux looked up at him and managed a small smile. Karkat leaned forward and kissed him.

“Thankth KK.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter about Sollux and Karkat, but next I'll update with a short story (it's like, only some paragraphs) that I think gives it a really sweet finishing touch. So yeah, please wait for that. I'll try to post it tomorrow, if I can get up to the library.


	34. The End.

_Sollux grinned as he ran down the sidewalk. He felt alive with excitement and happiness. He laughed and jumped over a fence._

“ _AA!” he called. Aradia stepped out of her parents’ car, which had just arrived, and smiled when she saw Sollux. She ran up to him and Sollux ran over and hugged her. Aradia laughed as he picked her up and swung her around._

“ _Hi Sollux! Wow, you’re in such a good mood! What happened?” Sollux grinned and put her down._

“ _I thaved thomeone!” he said._

“ _You did?”_

“ _Yeah! A boy’th parentth were killed and I thaved him from the murderer!”_

“ _That’s wonderful Sollux! Good for you!” Sollux grinned and hugged her again._

“ _I actually uthed my pthiionicth for thomething great! I thaved thomeone AA!” Aradia laughed and nodded._

“ _I’m very proud of you Sollux.” She smiled and took his hand. “Let’s go get ice-cream to celebrate.” Sollux nodded and they ran down the street. Sollux laughed as he ran. He had saved that boy! He had saved him! He doubted he would see him ever again, but he didn’t care. He would remember him forever._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of the fanfiction. Thanks for reading this, it was lots of fun to write. :) I hope you all loved it. (btw, I'm posting a JohnDave fanfic next, if you're interested. :3)
> 
> Bye, have a nice day! :)


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